JEREMIAH 38: 4-6, 8-10
PSALM 39: 2-4, 18 R v.14
HEBREWS 12: 1-4
LUKE 12: 49-53

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In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks about his message causing divisions in the World. He knows that his message will be rejected by many; it will result in persecution and death, that it will cause divisions even in families.

The Church for which Luke wrote this Gospel account would have seen the same divisions and that is why probably Luke would have inserted this saying of Jesus as they ask, “Why does the Good News cause friction among love ones?” Even today, Jesus teachings can cause divisions, even amongst good people in the Church

How difficult it is today to talk about some Christian morals without being attacked in return. We see this when the pope or the bishop speak out. Sometimes people feel that the Christian message is too harsh and feel a personal attack on their goodness or even feel judged. How often is our rejection of the commands of God due to what we want and not what is true, right and good?

We can become like children who do not like to eat their vegetables because they do not like it though it is good and necessary.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus also said, ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already.’ Fire destroys what is there. With it though comes regeneration.

Jesus uses this metaphor to speak about a need to let him purify us of our sinful way to be less self-centered and more focused on God. It is then that we will become a new being in the image of God.

Next weekend we will be placing a plaque in the foyer recognizing that we believe in the sanctity of life from conception to its natural end. Even Amongst Catholics the legislation on abortion and euthanasia have caused arguments and friction and division.

There are two important things that we need to consider: One is that we should respect that the Church is the voice of Christ on faith and morals. We may struggle with what is taught but let us not ignore what is said. If we are not willing to listen to what our God teaches through the Church, then who among us would like to raise their hands and claim that authority.

Two is that whenever we speak let us do so with charity. We all struggle in different life issues, we are all sinners. When we speak it is never to judge others but to guide and support each other in being faithful to God.

When I reflect on my faith journey, I find my greatest growth in my relationship with God has been when I was challenged in life. In the end, the fire that Christ speaks of is a fire that will refine our souls to become a greater gift to God.

WISDOM 18: 6-9

PSALM 32: 1, 12, 18-20, 22

HEBREWS 11: 1-2, 8-19

LUKE 12: 32-48

Today is the last day of the National Vocation Awareness Week. The Australian Church invites us this week to discern God’s call to each of us. How are we to do that?

 Vocation is about God calling us to serve Him and the Good News in the world today. Today we are bombarded with so much happening in our lives that it can deafening. Amidst all that is happening, it can be difficult to hear God speaking to us. The business of life and the placing of importance on material things and wealth can make us deaf to God speaking to us.

 In our second reading, Abraham is presented to us as one who heard God’s Word and responded to that Word. An important way to be open to God speaking to us is the need to withdraw from the business and desires of our lives and just be with God in reflection and prayer. In this way we surrender ourselves to God. This was what Abraham and Sarah did.

 Often too we want to do things for God rather than let God tell us what He wants to do for us.We can so easily become self-centered and not God centered.

 In the Gospel reading, Jesus calls us to seek the ways of God and His Kingdom. Some people would like to keep their work and private life separate from their spiritual life. This cannot be, Jesus says.

 Wherever we are, whatever we do, we must be at God’s work. Jesus is saying that our faith in God should affect every aspect of our lives. It is in discerning God’s will in our daily routine that we can see and hear more clearly God’s call to us in life. Only in this way can we be ready for the Lord when he comes knocking.

 It is one thing to hear God’s call though and another to respond to that call. Abraham followed God’s call to leave his home because of God’s promise to him. He could not see the total fruits of that promise but it was in following God’s Word in trust that he came to understand and what that promise meant.

 Some people want full certainty before they are prepared to follow. But the knowing can only come with the journey;………..and the relationship with God become real through trust.

 Sometimes people can get disillusioned with their effort to follow God. They may not be able to see the fruits of their expectation. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel, like Abraham again, we will only see clearly if we are focused on God and not ourselves. We may not see what we would like to see but we will see what God chooses to do through us.

 On another level let us reflect too on how we have responded to God’ call as a parish. How have we as a parish tried to be witness for God.

 And so today in this last day of our Vocations week, let us make our lives an offering to God, that God’s will may be our will and that God’s work may be done through us.

ECCLESIASTES 1: 2, 2:21-23
PSALM 89: 3-6, 12-14, 17 R. v. 1
COLOSSIANS 3: 1-5, 9-11
LUKE 12: 13-21

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This Gospel story would have been a great challenge to Jesus’ listeners. For the understanding of the time is that wealth was a sign of God’s blessings. In fact, there are Christian groups who still have this understanding: that God will bless the person who has faith with success and wealth.

A man comes to Jesus to ask him to be an arbitrator between him and his brother. After all, he would say that this is only just, and that is what Jesus should agree to.

But Jesus sees in this, the grave danger we open ourselves to when we seek the things of the earth before all else. The consequences is petty quarrels, broken relationships, hatred, conflict, and sometimes even physical death.

Our readings today speak of the wisdom of seeking first the things of heaven, the things of God. God has blessed us with so many things, but the best of all blessings and the one that last forever, is love. And love does not come through wealth but through relationships. And the most important relationship is that with God.

The happiest person is not the one who is the richest in the world but the one who knows that he / she is loved, especially where he / she knows God’s love for them. Jesus was the happiest human who walked on this earth because he knew the Father’s love for him and shared that love with others.

Contrast that with the problem of quarrels between peoples because of money and property.
In all that is going on there, it is love that loses out.

Today’s Gospel story would be a great challenge to us too. I guess all of us would like a bit more too in life. Something for a rainy day and for things we would like to have.
There is no problem with that so long as it doesn’t draw us away from God.

Jesus in today’s Gospel is telling us to seek right relationship with God and neighbor. This is what matters most in life. And wealth and the things of the world can be an obstacle and not a help. But with a right relationship with God and neighbour, wealth is seen differently in our life.

Wealth will not last but God’s love will last forever. Let us reflect on how well we know God’s love for us. Let us seek to know God’s love for us.

The yardstick of this and our happiness is how we come to share our love for others.

To know God is to love God.
To love God is to follow God
To follow God is to make his love known through our lives.

GENESIS 18: 20-32
PSALM 137: 1-3, 6-8
COLOSSIANS 2: 12-14
LUKE 11: 1-13

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There are many types of conversations between peoples and depending on the type of conversation, there is a dynamic taking place between the two parties. For instance there is a different dynamic going on in a business discussion as against a conversation between a parent and child or between two friends, or a robber and the victim, between politician and the public or between courting couples. Each type of conversation has a different effect on the parties concern.

When we pray, there is also a dynamic taking place between God and us, the consequence of which has an effect on us.

In the Our Father prayer, Jesus teaches that there are some very important aspects to remember about this conversation, this relationship.

The very nature of the prayer already tells us that this conversation between God and us is very different from any other conversation – It is not a conversation between equals. Yet, in the Our Father, Jesus tells us that God is not distant but very near to us; God is someone we can approach with confidence as a child approaches his / her loving father. God is caring, concern for us and loves us.

And so in prayer the first and foremost thing we must remember is that ‘God’s name is Holy.’ In this conversation, there must always be a respect for the Holiness of God.
Respect is not just about being polite; it is also honouring the goodness of the person.

It’s like this: Have you come across times when people will ask you to do something that is wrong and unlawful? That is not respecting your integrity, your goodness and your holiness.

We should never then wish evil upon a person in God’s name. We should also not ask God to feed our greed or our pride. For God is holy and God is love.

‘Your kingdom come’ is a call to be open to the will of God by always seeking God’s way. If we are not open to the will of God and the Way of God, we will not know the answer God’s gives to our prayers.

Remember when Jesus prayed at the garden of Gethsemane he asked the Father to take away this cup. He knew the Father could grant him his request. But he was open to the will of the Father and was willing to follow the Way of the Father. He did not get his request, but the Father answered his prayer and God won for us our salvation. God may not seem to answer our prayers the way we want, but God will always answer our prayers.

‘Give us this day our daily bread’ follows naturally from this, for it is the call to always trust in God. And trust can only grow when there is a loving relationship. That relationship grows when we can recognize God and are open to God’s Way in our very daily activities.

‘Forgive us our sins’ is the humble acknowledging of our sinfulness and a recognition of our total dependence on God’s mercy and love. It is about facing the truth and not pretending to be something else. Honesty is an essential part of right relationships, and leads to a desire for God.

Many people turn away from God simply because they feel that they do not need God. They feel that they are good enough.

Forgiveness is also a recognition that a right relationship with God goes hand in hand with a right relationship with our neighbour. We cannot understand the fullness of God’s loving mercy and compassion unless we are open to it in our relationship with others.

How many wars are fought, and family disputes arise simply because there is a lack of mercy and forgiveness.

‘Do not put us to the test’ is a turning to God for guidance and protection. This again is a recognition that as humans we are not strong enough but depend on God. As St Paul said, “It is when I am weak that Christ is strong in me.”

The ‘Our Father’ is a prayer which highlights our relationship with God. It is about a child seeking to know God by being open to God’s love that that love may become our strength to follow God.

May our prayers, like Jesus’ prayer always end with an offering of ourselves to the Will of God, that we may come to know God.

Bible Readings

GENESIS 8: 1-10
PSALM 14: 2-5 R. v. 1
COLOSSIANS 1: 24-28
LUKE 10: 38-42

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It is not always evil things that draw us away from following Christ.
We can often get ourselves sidetracked with what is seemingly good things that we have no time for God.
In one of the Gospel parables, those who refused the invitation to the banquet were not acting out of bad motives, but from perfectly good ones.
One wanted to go and inspect a piece of land he had bought; another wanted to check the oxen he had bought, and a third was newly married.
Many things that occupy our time are important and urgent but few are truly essential.

Life today can be so busy.
Often we worry and fret over so many things, jobs, money, and responsibilities.
There are so many things to be done; so many duties to be fulfilled that we have little or no time for God, for prayer, for worship.

The evil lies in that we have made other things into idols, more important than God.

In today’s Gospel, Some people may sympathize with Martha.
She appears to be the generous one who gives in today’s Gospel while Mary sits around enjoying herself.
If Mary’s prayerfulness never expressed itself in loving service, we would agree.
But there is nothing in the Gospels to show that this was so.

Rather, Jesus is using this occasion to teach that the most important thing is our union with God.
Jesus is not saying that service in not important.
Last Sunday’s Gospel of the Good Samaritan, he said ‘go and do the same.’
This would indicate that Martha service is also important.
Here, Jesus points out a defect of Martha: she is a worrier.

Well-meaning and generous though Martha may be, Jesus says she hasn’t got her priorities right.
The demands of the present moment distract her from the one thing necessary, the Word that offers life.

It is not enough merely to ‘do good things’ for people.
Christianity must be inspired and nourished by a sitting at the feet of Jesus so that we might hear and be guided by his word.
We all need to be first a Mary before we can be a Martha.
A waiting room was jammed with applicants for a job as a telegraph operator.
Noisy conversation competed with a flow of dot and dashes from a loudspeaker overhead.

The door opened and another young woman joined the already large crowd of hopeful applicants.
Suddenly this young woman rose to her feet and walked directly into the office marked ‘private’.
A moment later she came out smiling; she was hired for the job.
“Now look here,” barked an angry man who had been waiting for a long time, “What right have you to go in ahead of everybody else?”
“That’s what the message said to do,” said the woman.
“What message?” snapped the angry man.
“Why, the dots and dashes coming over the loudspeaker. They said: ‘If you hear this, come directly into my office for the job.’”

Often God speaks, but like the people in the waiting room, we are too busy, too distracted to listen.

It is important to listen to God speaking to us through the scriptures, prayer, our very neighbour and the Church.

What we need to do is to let go of so much that fills our wants and desires so that we may let God into our lives.

Fr Philip