22 April 2012

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19
1 John 2:1-5
Luke 24:35-48

Many years ago when I was a seminarian I went for a swim. In the swimming pool before me was a man about 70 years old. I noticed he didn’t swim about but just kept floating in the water. Later when he got out of the pool I saw that he had a very bad limp and his legs were badly scarred. We started talking and he told me that he had been a priest in China and was imprisoned by the communists and tortured in an effort to get him to give up his belief in God. He didn’t, of course, and paid the penalty. The amazing thing was that he wasn’t in the least bitter or hateful towards his former torturers.

Aren’t there many people like him in our world today? People who show the scars that result from being true to themselves. Like the scars of poverty. I know of someone who resigned from a well-paid job rather than involve himself in the dishonest practices of the company he worked for. The scars of shame some people bear because there has been a suicide in the family even though it was not their fault. Isn’t it true that we all pick up many wounds or scars going through life? For some it might be the scars of a broken relationship, the scars of addiction to drink, drugs, etc. The scars some people have from being sexually abused or those which result from from a severe depression.

In the gospel today Jesus bears the scars or wounds of being faithful to God. Rather than being untrue to himself he denounced the religious leaders of his day for leading the people astray. Many of these leaders were mainly interested in being powerful, rich, looking after themselves at the expense of the people entrusted to them by God. So Jesus appears to the disciples in the gospel to convince them that it is really the same person whom they knew before as their master and leader. Now glorified, he still carries the marks of his wounds, his scars. The simple truth is that there is no such thing as Christianity without the cross. If one follows Jesus in life he / she will bear scars or wounds. Jesus went back to his father with his wounds. He is saying that it is o.k. for us to be wounded too. That is how God loves and accepts us.

Sometimes people come to me and say, ‘Father, I have prayed and prayed for God to remove such and such a cross from my life but God doesn’t seem to care, to listen’. Of course, God does listen. Maybe the answer for the person is that in spite of a very difficult, life situation, they get the courage and strength to continue, when others would give up. Jesus never promised to take away all our crosses but he did promise to walk by our side carrying them with us.

Recently, I met a family with a badly handicapped child. Before birth, the mother knew this was a big possibility, yet she decided not to have an abortion. When the child was born handicapped the grandmother said. ‘Well, I suppose that we will all have to show an extra amount of love for this child’

Sometimes difficult situations draw incredible courage and love from people facing them. But let us not in any way romanticise them. They are not to be sought after but if they do come, Jesus has been there before us. He knows it is very costly to be faithful to God. A German theologian called it the cost of discipleship. He himself was hanged by the Nazis for denouncing the evils of Hitler and Nazism.

When Jesus appears in the gospel, he asks the disciples for a piece of fish in order to eat it and encourage them to believe it is really he who has risen. He didn’t ask for much, a piece of grilled fish. God continues to ask each of us to give whatever we can, to share with him what is possible. He still does it, but today he wants us to share with his body here on earth, his children now living in our world. So each of us has this ability – to share what we can with Jesus, now present in his people. It will still cost and maybe we will be scarred or wounded in responding to his call. The scars of those who try to look after an aging parent, of the great patience demanded from caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease. The scars of continuing to love a teenage son who has disgraced the family by taking to drugs. The scars of accepting without a judgmental attitude and truly loving a member of the family found to be suffering from AIDS etc.

The Good News is that God gives each of us the capacity to be faithful to him in those around us. Rather than running away from the problems if we try and deal with them, knowing God is there with us, then the cross, the wounds, the scars, the crucifixion will be a prelude to the glory the Risen Christ experienced. But this deep peace and joy, which comes with the resurrection, is already ours here below. Heaven begins already as St. John says. Today we live in a world for which pleasure is the goal for very many. ‘If you want it, do it or have it’. Sadly, we know what results when people follow blindly the pursuit of pleasure. Jesus never claimed that following him would be easy. He once said to Peter when many started leaving him and abandoning him. “Will you also go away?” Perhaps today Jesus is putting the same question to us. Hopefully our answer will be that of Peter – ‘Lord to whom shall we go. You have the message of eternal life and we believe that you are the Holy One of God’

‘Lord Jesus, crucified and risen, give us this conviction too. Amen’

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

Easter Sunday – 8 April 2012

Acts 10:34, 37-43
Colossians 3:1-4
John 20:1-9

Many years ago I knew a young married couple, very happily married. Then after 15 years of marriage the husband died suddenly. Sadly they had had no children. For the widow life all but ended with her husband’s unexpected death. She said to me at that time that the sun would never shine for her in her life. She didn’t see any point in living. She was totally devastated. This went on for about 4 years. Being the quiet retiring person she was, she had depended very much on her husband and after his death, she felt totally alone. Others helped her for awhile but then they had to look after their own families. Then with the help of a few close friends and her faith in God, she gradually started to live again. In fact, because her husband was no longer there to depend on, she had to develop talents she never knew she had. Bit by bit she grew in self-confidence and now this woman thinks nothing of travelling to the far end of the wold alone where before she would hardly go a 100 kilometers. She had matured out of all recognition and the sun certainly shines again for her in her life. But I know that it was her faith in God and the support of a few friends, which made all the difference. But it took time.

Perhaps Easter Sunday is something like that. Up to the moment of the Resurrection, after the terrible death of Jesus on Good Friday, the disciples of Jesus were devastated. The one they had leaned on was gone. They never imagined Jesus would be taken prisoner and crucified. In that instant their dreams evaporated like that of the woman when her husband died suddenly. The disciples experienced a dreadful loss and no doubt were shattered, their hopes taken away in those short few days. They were also afraid for their lives and half expected to be caught and punished by the religious leaders who plotted the death of Jesus and had him crucified. For them too at that terrible time, they never expected the sun to shine for them again in their lives.

In today’s gospel, a woman no less, Mary of Magdala reports to Peter and John that the tomb is empty. In nearly all the Resurrection accounts, it is the women who first experience the Risen Jesus. Women at that time as in many places still were looked down upon. This may be why the disciples did not believe them. It seems that the proclamation of life of the Risen Jesus starts with the very people who were marginalised and who count for little in society. In any case the curiosity of the 2 is awakened and they run to the tomb. Peter sees the linen cloths on the ground in an empty tomb. He did no more than merely ascertain the facts. However, it is said of John that he ‘saw and he believed’ even though his own faith was not yet perfect because the full impact of the vision of faith of the Scriptures had no yet dawned on him. It took Thomas even some days to surrender and accept – very consoling for us. To discover fully how rich faith is, takes time and growth and God in incredibly understanding and patient.

Maybe we all stand condemned in some way by the woman interviewed on an international radio programme. Because of modern technology, after an operation she was able to see for the first time in her life at the age of 54 and her comments in that radio interview were. “I cannot understand how all of you who were born with the gift of sight can be so unmoved by the beauty of life. You seem to take it all for granted – the beauty of a flower, the marvels of dimples on the hands of a new born baby, the serenity in the faces of old people who are content with life.etc. etc. I feel she is correct. Faith is like a new way of seeing. The resurrection does make a difference. If we believe our eyes are opened to enormous possibilities. Jesus was in a tomb for 3 days and then burst free from its darkness and the stone that imprisoned him. For me, that is my experience of resurrection. Whilst the empty tomb has its importance I know that I have experienced much freedom because of the gift of faith in the resurrection of Jesus God gives me. Like Mary Magdalene who went in the dark and found an empty tomb Since Jesus was not there it was indeed darkness, but later in meeting Jesus a new light dawned for her and all other believers.

The resurrection doesn’t mean that we gloss over pain, suffering and difficult daily life situations, but it does give us a new vista or outlook on life. It gives us the freedom to face the dark side of life, and even death with confidence knowing that Jesus broke the bonds of human limitation and slavery in our lives. Jesus is alive and if we really have experienced the joy of the Risen Jesus in our daily lives we don’t have to wait until we die to experience resurrection now – deep joy, peace and serenity because of Jesus, now alive and out and about. In the first reading today Peter says that he and the disciples are now witnesses of all they saw Jesus doing even if for a few days they were paralysed by his death and seeming failure. If you and I have experienced the Risen Jesus at work in our lives, like the women who lost her husband suddenly, if we are faithful despite the great difficulty of these times of loss Jesus is there with us then and he will surely help us experience the sun shining again.

“Thank you Lord Jesus for the gift of our faith in the resurrection. May we be witnesses of gospel joy and peace to others till searching and doubting. Amen.”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

PALM (PASSION) SUNDAY – 1 April 2012

Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Mark 14:1-15, 47

Many years ago a famous artist wanted to paint a picture of Jesus as a young man. He searched around for a model and eventually found a very handsome young man. Years later the same artist wanted to paint a picture of the Last Supper, but had difficulty in finding a model for Judas. Eventually he did, someone with an evil-looking face which put fear into people who looked at it. You can imagine the artist’s surprise when he discovered that it was the same man he had chosen as his models for Jesus and Judas. Between the first painting of Jesus and the second on of Judas at the Last Supper the young man had got into bad company and had committed many crimes. This was reflected in his face. From a young man with much potential he had become an evil person and failed to reach his capacity for greatness.

We should see this Holy Week as one unit. It includes the suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus as well as the sending of the Holy Spirit. There is the joy of today’s opening gospel of Jesus entering Jerusalem and getting an enthusiastic welcome from the crowds. But soon the picture changes to darkness, suffering and death. Very probably some of the people who welcomed Jesus enthusiastically on Palm Sunday with shouts of ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ were among those who cried out for his death a few days later, ‘Crucify him, crucify him’. Just like the story in the beginning, the same young man who acted as a model for Jesus also modeled as Judas. Do we not do the same from time to time?

Each one of us has this capacity, that for greatness and that for evil. We all know from our own personal experience that we can do many good acts, but we are conscious that we also do what we know is wrong, evil and sinful. We have the ability both to help and to hurt others, sometimes within a matter of minutes. For me the amazing fact is that Jesus who is God never punishes us, certainly doesn’t send anyone to hell. He is sad, very sad for sure when he sees that our bad or evil behavior hurts others but he never, never, never punishes us. If you/I read the gospel account of Mark’s Passion narrative today amazingly there isn’t one word spoken by Jesus about condemning, even those who put him to death. He is upset when they are unkind to the woman who anoints him, but not statement about punishment or that he will get even with us later. This continues to astonish me as and it confirms John 3.17 where it says that ‘God sent his Son into the world not to condemn it but to save it’. This is probably the most difficult aspect to accept fully about God. God never punishes, God never judges unto condemnation, occasionally he judges unto conversion in the hope that people who cannot accept his gentle approach might be pushed to respond by his challenging words. My mind is constantly overwhelmed with the idea of a God who does not punish – ever. It is we chose not to accept God’s love, God’s friendship. The rejection of God comes from our side. The rejection of us by God is just not possible since GOD IS LOVE. But God will never force his love, his friendship on us. It is always an invitation to us.

In today’s gospel story in Mark, Jesus says or does very little. It is the various actors in the drama who decide for themselves what their relation to Jesus will be. They either accept or reject Jesus. It is the same for us. We decide by our way of life whether we want to be for Jesus and accept his way or we turn away and go our own way. We choose. It is up to us and God will not force us. Today’s gospel is another offer from God to us. Will we choose Jesus today or not?

The key to today’s Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday liturgical celebration is the second reading from St.Paul’s letter to the Philippians. “Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus”. Though Jesus was in the form of God he emptied himself and went down to the lowest depths of human degradation and humiliation, taking on all that we deserved from our sinful, non-loving behaviour. Dying naked on the cross and as a convicted criminal his totally self-sacrificing attitude was accepted by God the father. Jesus descended to the very depths of degradation and darkness, to the depths of feeling rejected by God that many experience. He answered with a totally loving surrender and so won for us the possibility to do the same no matter how low we sink as humans. This shows us in the most profound way what Jesus in his love for us was prepared to do to draw us back to his embrace.

“Lord Jesus, your love for us is beyond understanding. No wonder St. Paul described it as the foolish love of God. Help us to turn to you fully in humble gratitude. You alone are the Way, the Truth and the Life. You alone are Love. Give us the Holy Spirit to love you and others as fully as we can for this is what you ask of us. Help us to show to all how valuable they are to you no matter how far they have sunk into evil patterns. Amen.

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

25 March 2012 

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12;20 –33

Some years ago the late pop idol Michael Jackson came to Ireland to give a concert. The tickets for the concert were very expensive. Nevertheless, a young relative of mine aged about 17 at the time, wanted so much to see Michael Jackson in a live concert that she went to great trouble to get a ticket. Even to get into the stadium where the concert was staged demanded a lot of struggle due to the crowds and the tight security. The people had to be in their seats 5 hours before Michael Jackson appeared on stage. However, those present didn’t consider that as too great an effort. They wanted to see Michael Jackson at any cost.

In the gospel today there are some Greeks, that is some non-Jews who want to see Jesus too, so they go first to Philip and Philip calls on Andrew and both go to Jesus to tell him. The Greeks’ request to Philip was ‘we would like to see Jesus’ I don’t know what they were hoping to see when meeting Jesus but his answer is first of all rather strange. He talks about a process of dying. In reality if they or you or me want to see Jesus we must know what to be prepared for. Seeing Jesus is not just like seeing Michael Jackson where we have a very pleasant and enjoyable time and go home probably feeling very good. To SEE Jesus is not just to look at him, which is presumably what those Greeks wanted (maybe like Zaccheus who climbed a sycamore tree to get a better look at Jesus as he passed by underneath and got far more in that Jesus went to his house to eat with him). To SEE Jesus is to enter totally into his way of thinking, to understand WHY he had to suffer and die and rise again. Like the grain of wheat, Jesus had to let go of everything, including his own life, in order to bring life to himself and many others. In the process both he and we will be transformed. If we cannot see this as the core of Jesus’ life we have not really seen him. But Jesus goes further and says that we must have the same way of thinking. Anyone who loves or clings to his life will lose it. (We think of someone like Howard Hughes the billionaire who lived the last part of his life as a lonely, fear-filled recluse).

Are we ready for what Jesus asks? Are we afraid to let everything go if necessary? Is Jesus asking too much? Let us have no doubt. Jesus too was afraid, deeply afraid. Today’s gospel says it clearly ‘Now my soul is troubled. Father, save me from this hour’. But as the second reading today, the Letter to the Hebrews says ‘he learned to obey through suffering’. Imagine that if we can.

This then is the core of Jesus’ message. To see him is to lose one’s life. Not easy to accept. Yet to die is to give life and we do this and often are not aware we are following the pattern of Jesus

We think of parents with 3 children. Another pregnancy not planned for occurs and they accept to give life rather than making a different choice, which would make things less demanding for them. We think of priests, sisters, many good lay people who renounce a family of their own and go to war-torn or famine stricken countries to aid the victims often at great cost. Some give their lives in the process. We think too of many young and not so young people who commit themselves wholeheartedly to the well being of others, people living alone, handicapped people etc. We think of the efforts married people go to bring up their children with values often counter to those in a purely consumerist or materialist world etc. etc.

It is true that giving oneself in love for the sake of others is an exacting process. Yet the paradox seems to be that it is in dying to our own desires and needs to serve others that we are much happier as a result. It seems to be a clear law of nature, that in seeking our own happiness and comfort only we will never find it. But like Jesus, it is in seeking to make others happy and trying to alleviate their sufferings even at much cost to us, that brings happiness to ourselves too. Jesus wasn’t trying to tell us in today’s gospel that if we follow him that in dying to our own desires and needs at least a good deal of the time, we will be rewarded with heaven. He is telling us that in trying to make others happier now that we ourselves will also share in this now, which I presume what heaven is about. We will continue this experience of happiness in the next life.

“Lord Jesus, we would like to see you too. But sometimes we are afraid to get to close to you because we have a good idea of what it may involve. Help us to see that following you is far more than just saying prayers and going to Mass in daily. Help us to live out the consequences of our prayers and masses in giving ourselves for others. Give us your powerful Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see you and to have the same attitudes and outlook as you had. Amen.’

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

18 March 2012

2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-21
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:14-21

The husband of a certain woman was killed unexpectedly in a car crash and she told her friend that the accident happened because God was punishing her for her past sins. She had committed adultery a number of times and as a result of one affair, she had to have an abortion. Now she was convinced that she was paying for all this.  Sad to say, but there are very many people who are convinced that God punishes them for their past failings. They see God as a harsh kind of judge who condemns them if they do wrong and makes them pay for this sooner or later.

Recently a friend of mine, a very committed Christian said to me that he found it very hard to please God always and felt he would be judged severely at the end of his life for failing to please a demanding God.  Worse still, I knew a bishop who really tried hard to do God’s will and was a very good man. In his later years he spent most of his time praying so that he would escape a harsh final judgement from God.

I don’t know if these people really believed today’s gospel as John wrote it and meant it to be accepted.  The great good news of today’s gospel is very simply that God loves us passionately, unconditionally and completely. The gospel spells out as clearly as possible that God cannot but love us. In verse 17 we read ‘that God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved’. So the primary purpose for which Jesus came was not to condemn but to save.  Sometimes the word ‘save’ may not mean that much to us but an equally acceptable translation is the word ‘free’ or ‘liberate’. God through Jesus wishes to liberate us on all levels of our being: mental, physical, psychological, spiritual, emotional. He wants us to be free us of unnecessary fears and anxieties, scruples etc. so as to be free to love God and others. The reason why I continue to be a Christian is precisely for that reason.  I have experienced a great amount of freedom in my life through my relationship with Jesus and his  life-giving words. It is not just for some holy reason only. God wants us to be fully human too like Jesus.

In the verse before, verse 16, we read ‘Yes, God loved the world so much that that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but may have eternal life.’ Life for John here in its biblical understanding is not continued existence after this life, nor even what is termed the quality of life. It is first and foremost ‘life with someone’, life in relation to the other, life in relation to God, to those whom we love and to those who love us. Eternal life is the preservation of these relationships intact even through death. For John ‘to be lost’ is to die, to cease to be. To cease having relationships with all those we would want to love. Thus, to save the world is to deliver from the power of death all who are subject to it, not preventing them from dying but by granting them eternal life.

So God cannot stop loving us, even when we are sinning. We cannot lose God’s friendship, his love from God’s side but we can choose ourselves to lose it by our evil acts and behaviour, what John calls the darkness. So God loves us totally and his love for us is not based on the attractiveness of the recipient nor on the return involved. God loves us now, always, totally. Full stop.

So St. Paul tells us in the second reading that we are “God’s work of art” – what a magnificent statement. Do you, do I consider ourselves as a work of art, something of incredible beauty? Well, God does. If we could only accept this about ourselves and others what a wonderful world we would have. St Paul goes on to say in today’s second reading that ‘it is by grace (that is God’s loving choice of us) that we have been saved, through faith, not by anything of your own, but a gift from God, not by anything you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. That is except God.

Is there nothing left for us to do?  Surely. We don’t try to be virtuous or good or holy or whatever, to earn or gain God’s love. It is already freely given, never to be taken back for whatever reason. Jesus lifted high on the cross is the absolute proof of that. So we try to live a good life so as to thank, praise, and glorify God. To witness to people that all others ways apart from that lived and spoken to us by Jesus do not give lasting peace and joy.  To show that the evil that people do under the cover of darkness brings suffering and death into our world whilst the way of Jesus is truly, life-giving and joyfilled.   Since we cannot do this by our own will power let us do it by the power of the Spirit.

“Lord Jesus, may we ask very often for the gift of your Spirit to really accept the great good news of today’s gospel and believe and witness to it that others too may believe and live by it too. Amen”

Fr Jim Kirstein SMA

4 March 2012

Genesis 22:1-2, 9, 15-18
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10

Some time ago a woman was talking to a priest and said that 8 years earlier she was going through a very bad time in her life. Then one day she was praying in her room and she distinctly heard a voice telling her not to worry, that all would work out well. She was assured that ‘I will be with you’. And so it proved. Life eventually got better, her marriage which she thought was ending is strong again and sickness she was experiencing has been healed. The priest said to her that it appeared she had a mountaintop experience like the Transfiguration scene in today’s gospel.

Maybe quite a number of people have had a similar experience without being aware that it was a kind of Transfiguration event for them too.

The gospel today describes the transformation or transfiguration of Jesus. An encounter with God changes us. We read about an outer change in Jesus’ appearance, but for most of us, the experience of God brings about an inner change, a change of heart.

The gospel talks of the three disciples going up a high mountain with Jesus. He is the one who leads. In the two passages before this, he had been telling them that he was destined to suffer grievously, be put to death and rise again after three days. Peter reacts strongly and tells Jesus that this cannot be so. But Jesus says that anyone wishing to be a follower of his will have to take up his/her cross too.

The Transfiguration of Jesus now takes place. It has a double significance, one for Jesus himself and the other for the disciples.

For Jesus: he had taken the decision to go up to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die and he wanted to know if he had made the correct decision. On the mountaintop he received a double approval of his decision from Moses and Elijah. These two saw in Jesus the fulfillment of all that had been dreamed of in the past.

But above all, God his Father approved Jesus. Jesus did not just consult his own wishes. He went to God for confirmation and he gets it very clearly here. But the cross is part and parcel of what will ultimately lead to his glory.

For the three disciples: The idea that the Messiah would be rejected, made to suffer and die at the hands of his own people was simply unthinkable. Now it seems that this special experience is given to balance out the picture. These three disciples are given a glimpse of the ‘real’ Jesus to help them through the dark days ahead.

The gospel comments that Peter did not know what he was talking about in asking to build three tents or shrines. There would never be a shrine to Jesus except in the hearts of his followers. We cannot hold on to our good experiences. We must move on to face what come next in life. But the good news of the Transfiguration scene is that each of us has the potential for transformation, for transfiguration, for greatness. Often, suffering will be part of this but in overcoming our temptations and weaknesses, following Jesus’ example and the gift of his Spirit to help us we become more and more transformed into God’s dream for us, his desire for us. This is the basis of our Christian hope.

On the mountain a cloud came and covered them all. The cloud is traditionally the biblical way of describing God’s presence. The voice which says ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to him’ is God’s voice. It is God’s invitation to the disciples and ourselves to accept the difficult things he speaks about, his and our rejections, sufferings and deaths – but also resurrections. Jesus is the Word of God. To listen is to hear, to accept, and to follow – all the way leading to final glory.

God our Father is totally pleased with the self-offering of Jesus on our behalf. God as the second reading says, ‘did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all’. That is why God is so pleased with his Son because Jesus offered up his life in order to show us the enormous love of God for us.

Most ordinary people do this in their daily lives without making any connection to the sufferings of Jesus. They are faithful in their marriages, looking after family and friends especially in time of sickness and difficulties etc. God equally says to all of you who do these: “You are my beloved children, in you I am well pleased”.

Finally, in the gospel scene when the bright cloud disappeared, the disciples are left with ‘only Jesus’. God has made himself that close and familiar to us that we do not need to be afraid. He is always with us and we should never forget the transfiguration moments in our lives, the glimpses of transcendence. They encourage us to be faithful especially in difficult times until the time of final glory.

“Lord Jesus, help us to be courageous in times of trial, knowing you are with us always. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

25 February 2012

Genesis 9: 8 – 15
1 Peter 3:18 – 22
Mark 1:12 – 15

Some time ago a businessman went to a psychologist.  He told him that he was very stressed with all the work he was doing.  Also he suffered from very high blood pressure because of tension. Could the psychologist help him and give him peace and tranquillity in his life.  He assured him that he could if he did exactly as he was told. The businessman agreed. So he was told to take 2 periods of 20 minutes a day, one in the morning, the other in the evening, to stop all work and activity and just be quiet by himself. He was told to return to report back after a month. This he did and told the psychologist that he was no better.  ‘What did you do?’ he was asked. ‘Well, I did as you said.  I did the 2 twenty minutes of silence daily, did no work or activity. I just listened to very quiet music to calm me’.  ‘Ah, replied the psychologist, but I asked you to be told silent and that meant no music. But replied the businessman.  ‘If I kept completely silent I couldn’t live with myself’.  ‘Well’, replied the other,  ‘if you can’t live with yourself how can you expect others to live with you!’

In the gospel today the Spirit drives Jesus into the desert. The desert is a place both of testing and encounter with God. It is a place of silence. There are no signposts.  There are no distractions available. There, our human needs are barely met.  The harshness of the situation makes us fight for life. Our will is weakened and we are tempted to give in to the possibility of some relief.  Faced with the harshness of the desert, the Israelites were tempted to go back to their oppression in Egypt. But the desert with its profound silence is a privileged place to encounter God.

Some years ago I was working with seminarians in Africa and once I asked them why they found silence very difficult. Their answer was that if they remained totally silent even for a period of 10 minutes they would become aware of aspects of their lives they were not happy with. Their past and present failings and sins would have to be faced and they wanted to avoid that.  Indeed a very human and understandable response.

How are we ever going to discover who we really are if we don’t have some silence in our lives to become aware of our sinful inclinations but also our good qualities? The seminarians seemed to focus only on what they regarded as not good about themselves.

In the gospel passage today Jesus is tempted by Satan. He is with the wild beasts and the angels looked after him. I think this is a great reality in all our lives.  There are both wild beasts and also angels in each of our lives. By wild beasts we mean temptations that can be so strong that they almost overwhelm us – the temptation to take revenge on someone who hurt us, the temptation to indulge in wrong sexual activity, to take drugs etc. These temptations can be so strong at times that like the wild beasts they can drag us along almost out of control of ourselves. So when I see what goes on in Kosovo, East Timor, Chechnia etc. I see what I am capable of doing if I grew up in those situations of ethnic hatred. For sure, there are wild beasts in all of us. I know it is true of me in my own experience.

But the good news is that like Jesus, the angels are with us too to help us face and overcome our inner wild beasts just as they did Jesus.  It may be a friend that God puts in our path to help us in a time of great trial.  It might be be someone we may want to do wrong with but who has the courage to say ‘no’ and so helps us avoid the possibility of terrible consequences if their answer were ‘yes’.  In all this the Holy Spirit working through these so-called angels is there with us as he was with Jesus.

Jesus knows how we are tempted as he went through it all before us even if the details may differ.  And He who is God loves us as we struggle, even when we fail and try to begin again.  That is the Good News Jesus came to proclaim to us. God is a God whose love is not determined in the slightest way by our virtue or our failings.  It is always there for us, constant, faithful, unconditional, passionate.

But how will we become aware of our wild beasts and angels if we don’t take time to be alone with ourselves. The more we become aware of our struggles and the wild beasts of our sinful inclinations, then we will call upon God’s help which is readily available. But if we don’t take time out for silent reflection from time to time, if not daily, then we run the risk of not knowing ourselves face on.  If we pray for the grace to take this time out then I believe we will be slow to judge others, and hopefully become more compassionate because we know that others’ failings and struggles are but a mirror of our own.

Finally, in our world today there is a constant and continual effort by advertising, the radio and TV to try to prevent us taking this time out because if we do we will see how they try to manipulate us to buy their goods and services. Some of course are very good, but do we need to fill up our lives with all they offer?

It is not easy to turn off the music, the walkman, the TV but from my own experience I can know that the benefits are well worth the effort.

“Lord Jesus, you entered the desert and faced yourself.  Give us the Holy Spirit to do the same to come to know ourselves and realise that you love us as we are, not as we would like to be or think we should be.   Give the courage to face ourselves and invite your Holy Spirit through his angels to help us. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

19 February 2012

Isaiah 43.18-19,21-22,24-25
2 Cor 1.18-22
Mark 2.1-12 

Recently I visited a friend of mine who has been sick for quite a time. His wife told me that she believes that his sickness is closely connected to the fact that he refuses to forgive a brother of his and is very bitter towards him. She said ‘I believe the energy that should be available for healing his sickness is locked up in that bitterness and his refusal to forgive’.

In today’s gospel the Jews see the man’s paralysis as a punishment for some sin in his own life or that of his parents. Jesus says ‘your sins are forgiven’. The scribes are shocked. ‘This man is blaspheming. Only God can forgive sins.’ Their eyes and minds are closed to the logic of their own remark. They refuse to draw the obvious conclusion that Jesus is God. They don’t see the obvious because they don’t want to see.

In our own times, we are beginning to realise again that there can be a close link between our sicknesses and our behaviour. We know that there is a mutual influence between our thinking and our attitudes, feelings and behaviour. Many sicknesses, perhaps most, are known to be psychosomatic, the result of stress or an imbalance in our relationships with others, our work, and our environment. An aspirin may relieve a headache but it does not necessarily remove what caused it in the first place.

Sinful behaviour, too, is a source of dis-ease in our lives. Sin in all its forms harms relationships: our relationships with the Truth and Love of God, with those around us, with ourselves. It creates an imbalance in ourselves affecting mind, feelings and body. A deeply sinful person cannot be a healthy person. To be full of greed, hatred, anger, resentment, jealousy, abusive desires breaks the relationships I need to have with God, with others and with myself. The words ‘healing’, ‘health’, ‘wholeness’ and ‘holiness’ all have a common root. The whole person, one in whom all parts are in perfect harmony with God, other people, one’s environment and oneself is the truly holy person.

However, given our present knowledge, not all sickness is to be traced to sinful behaviour. Certain congenital defects, for instance, cannot be traced to the behaviour of the person, still less as a punishment. We do know that the behaviour of the mother, for instance, through the use of nicotine, alcohol or other drugs, can have serious negative effects on the development of the child within her  

Today’s First Reading makes a very important point which questions the belief that past behaviour is responsible for how I am now. “Thus says the Lord: No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before.” It was wrong to see the sickness of the man as a punishment for some past sin. The only sins that matter are those of which I am at present guilty, sins that I have not repented of. God never looks at my past but only at the present. Jesus really delights in forgiving us if we but ask him.

If I am now actively a loving person – loving God, loving those around me and myself in a proper way, then there is no sin in me, no matter what I may have done in the past. God does not hold this against us. He does not keep detailed accounts of my behaviour. He only loves me and wants me to accept his love and let it flow through me. Is not that Good News? Being holy is not just saying prayers or being “pious”. It is about a wholeness and integrity that touches every aspect of our life and all our relationships.

The paralysed man does not speak, he does not ask for a healing but Jesus is truly touched by the faith of those who brought the paralysed man. He saw their determination to get their friend to him. This reminds us of the importance of the Christian community. At times when our faith isn’t very strong we are supported, ‘brought to Jesus’, by the prayers and the help of our friends in the faith whose determination to bring us to Jesus is surely rewarded by Jesus as was the paralysed man. Christianity is always a community affair. That is why we participate in the Eucharist with others.

‘Lord Jesus, we offer to you for your healing all those parts of our lives that are paralysed. Amen’.

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

29 January 2012

Deut 18: 15-20
1 Cor 7:32-35
Mark 1: 21-28

Some years ago I was visiting someone sick in hospital. After the visit I met a lady who was being wheeled on a stretcher. She saw me and asked if I was a Catholic priest. When I answered ‘yes’ she asked me to bless her. She was on her way into the theatre for a major operation. So I prayed over her and blessed her and prayed also that the doctors and nurses involved in the operation would use all their skills to make it a successful operation. I could see that she was very happy with this prayer. “Now”, she said, “Father, I know that the operation will be a success because God has blessed me”.

And it was. Later the doctor told me that up to the point of the blessing the woman was quite nervous about the operation but her faith in the power of God’s blessing relaxed her and did not put any psychological block in the way of a successful operation. She still depended on the skills of the doctors and nurses. But God used them as well as me to help this woman.

In the gospel today, Jesus greatly impressed the people who were listening to his teaching because he spoke with authority and using the same authority he expelled the unclean spirit from the man who was under its power. St. Mark places this incident in a very prominent position, that is, at the beginning of the gospel to highlight the reason for the coming of Jesus. In preaching to the people and casting out the unclean spirit Jesus is revealing the liberating or freeing power of his mission. Jesus’ power is greater than anything evil may try to do to us. In the short term we may suffer but God eventually proves victorious. Jesus came to free us or liberate us on the different levels of our being. He loosens the bonds or chains of our servitude, of false ideas, false gods, and dishonest practices.

I know a certain man who says he cannot forgive another who hurt him very badly some years ago and he is very bitter when he sees this other person. He suffers a lot from headaches and tension after meeting this other. If he would only turn to Jesus and ask for the gift of forgiveness or at least to want to be able to forgive I have little doubt that if he were able to forgive, his headaches and tension would go. This is why Jesus came.

Yet it is easy enough to understand why people may find it difficult to accept the authority of Jesus over evil. He called people to a new way of looking at things, God’s way.

If a society is closed to change, will it be easy for them to accept a new teaching? It is not easy to change a society pattern that may be operating in a place for centuries. For example in Islamic countries where the strict law of Islam applies, a woman who has studied abroad and now returns to this country may have the freedom now not to wear a veil on her head. But it will be almost impossible to do so because the others who have never travelled, especially the male religious leaders who want to keep the power over women, may be scandalised at this so called heresy. Wearing a veil or not wearing it, in itself, is not important. Or even in our own Catholic Church, for a long time the idea of female altar servers was forbidden. The Pope of the time forbade it. Some years later, he wrote allowing it. Now it is acceptable in many places. But because for so long it wasn’t the practice, the new idea was for a long time rejected.

So when Jesus speaks with authority in the gospel today, he is bringing the GOOD NEWS which frees us from what enslaves us, especially in matters which we think cannot change. Where do we stand? Are we limited or closed to new invitations from God? For many Christians their Image of God and understanding of who God is can be very limiting and enslaving. Like the woman whose husband was killed in a car accident is convinced that God is punishing her because many years ago she had an abortion. Her religion is really a determined effort to keep on the good side of God by many religious practices, yet Jesus came to say: ‘that is not what God is like’. God loves you unconditionally and passionately. He has forgiven you. Relax and enjoy God. Don’t make him into a monster’.

Maybe young people and not so young people are leaving the church because we may have made religion into a system of beliefs which doesn’t always correspond with who God is and what Jesus came to witness to. Maybe we need to talk to Jesus in the quiet of our hearts and listen to what he is trying to teach us. The reason I continue to be a Catholic priest is that I find that my relationship with Jesus has freed me from a lot of false understandings of religion which were taught to me when I was very young. The God of Jesus is a freeing, loving God but also challenging in the areas where we are hurting ourselves or others by wrong ideas about Jesus and why he came.

“Lord Jesus, we praise and thank you for coming and revealing yourself to us. For being God who wants to free us from all that enslaves us. Help us to realise that eternal life begins now and is a totally free gift and not something to work hard to earn. Help us to love and follow you simply to show our gratitude and appreciation for all that you are and continue to do for us. Amen.”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2012

Isaiah 55:1-11
Acts 10:34-38
Mark 1:6-11

A well known speaker started a seminar participated in by over 200 men and women by holding up a new crisp twenty Euro note. “I want to give this away”, he says, “but first let me do this”. Then he proceeds to crumple up the money. “Who wants it now?” he asks. Many hands were raised. He drops the money on to the floor and grinds it into the floor with his shoe. When he holds it up again the bill is crumpled and dirty. “Who wants it now?” he asks again. The same hands go up.

My friends he says, “you have learned a very valuable lesson”, he tells them. “No matter what I did to the note, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth twenty Euro. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground down by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, we will never lose our value in God’s eyes. To God, dirty or clean, crumpled or new and crisp, we are always priceless”.

In the gospel today Jesus is baptised in the river Jordan. It is a confirmation of his vocation as a human being. His father’s voice from heaven speaks and says: “You are my Son, the Beloved: my favour rests on you”. It says quite clearly that it is a favour that is not for a short term but it abides for ever.

God says the same to each one of us.

“You are my beloved child. My favour rests on you always”. So no matter what we think of ourselves or how we feel because of past sins or failings or present weaknesses, God is speaking with authority to assure us of his love and choice that we are his beloved children. Just prior to hearing the voice from heaven, the gospel account tells us that the heavens opened and the Spirit, like a dove, descended on Jesus. This recalls the opening verses of the bible when God’s Spirit hovered over the chaos to bring life and order to creation. So the Spirit, which came upon Jesus at his baptism, reminds us of the new creation, the new covenant God makes with us. Each of us therefore that has been baptized is a ‘new creation’ as St. Paul tells us.

A friend of mine attends a psychotherapist regularly because she has a very low self-esteem or bad self-image. He tries to help her realise her giftedness and inner goodness in spite of all but she finds this hard to accept. Many of us are like this whether we realize it or not. Today in the gospel, God the Great Psychotherapist is trying his best to assure us, that we are great in his eyes. In fact at the end of the first chapter of Genesis, the first book of the bible, we hear the words, “God saw all that he made and indeed it was very good”. God does not make rubbish! So from the opening of the bible to the last verse, this is the only message that God and Jesus wish to proclaim and they do this in many ways, through stories, parables, miracles, option for the poor and the rejected in society etc.

In God’s eyes, we are great, but like the crumpled or dirty Euro note we think we are not of much value. The measure of how valuable or priceless we are is the Crucifixion of Jesus. God is trying to show us here just how very much he loves us and that in spite of all the evil in our world and our own part in it, God cannot stop loving you and me. Why do we find it so hard to believe this? Maybe because human beings reject or don’t accept us at times and we take this as the measure of our value instead of listening and accepting fully what God is telling us. It shows too how important is our vocation to encourage, affirm and build up others and not just criticize and knock them down.

So the baptism of Jesus was his call to accept how beloved he was in God’s sight. If we could accept this, that we are loved unconditionally and passionately by God, we would be free then, as the first reading Isaiah reminds us, to love others. No, more importantly, to love ourselves!

If we can accept this for others, by the way we treat them we will show that they too are loves and valuable. This is our basic baptismal vocation or calling. All our Masses, prayers, devotions, novenas should strengthen us for this work.

Today in the gospel, Jesus though not having sinned, takes his place with other human beings as they line up to be baptised by John. His baptism was a baptism of repentance; Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit and that makes all the difference. So Jesus stands by our side to show he is in solidarity with us. This is quite important for us to accept. We need to repent to God of our sins, failings and acknowledge our need of his total forgiveness. If my heart is cluttered up or full of hatred against another how can we be empty and free to receive the baptism of the Spirit, to receive God’s love and gifts?

“Lord Jesus, thank you for joining us in our need to be baptised with the Holy Spirit though you never sinned. Help us to realise the great value we have in you sight. Enable us to love ourselves first as you command us to do, so as to witness to others just how much you love them too. Amen”  

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA, Blackrock Road, Cork

EPIPHANY of the LORD 2012

Isaiah 60.1-6
Ephesians 3.2-3, 5-6
Matt. 2:1-12

During my years in Nigeria, an SMA colleague, who was an expert on African culture and art, visited me. He was also an expert on nature, especially being very knowledgeable about birds and animals. One day he asked me to go bird watching with him. At that time I had no interest in this but being free went along. We spent most of the day watching the various birds, especially looking at the incredible variety of sizes, shapes and colours. He was unbelieveably knowledgeable about them. The longer the day went on the more I became amazed and totally involved in what we were doing. In truth this other SMA priest revealed a world I knew nothing of up to then. He gave a whole new meaning to nature and opened up for me a whole new way of looking at it.

Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, a word meaning revelation or manifestation. Just like my priest friend revealed or manifested to me a whole new way of looking at nature, today’s gospel is about the manifestation of Jesus to the Magi. These were the representatives of the so-called pagan world of the time. Jesus is revealed to them as the Light of the world, as its Saviour. In him, like for me, a whole new world, a whole new way of looking at life and living is revealed or manifested to them.

Epiphany is a call to avoid the temptation of thinking that Christ came for one group of people, or one Church. He came for all of us. Epiphany breaks down barriers and confirms that Jesus came for everyone. All nations will come to the light; all are called to become disciples of Jesus Christ. That is why the Epiphany is the great missionary feast. In that sense each of us who knows Jesus Christ is missioned to make him known to others by our way of living and acting. So each one of us is called to be a living witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ. This must involve kindness to others, forgiving them if necessary, sharing whatever is possible – not necessarily money but our time, ourselves.

But this is a choice offered us by God. Whom do we resemble more? The eager wise men who let neither distance nor difficulty stand in their way when it came to finding Jesus. Or, are we like Herod and many of the religious leaders in Jerusalem? Are we fearful that the coming of Jesus may disturb the tranquillity of our lives? Maybe we are content with our religious practices as were the Jewish religious leaders but what is God asking of us these days? What is the star that is guiding our lives? Money, pleasure, drugs etc. Is it leading us to peace, joy; that is, to Jesus. Or is it leading us away from him.

It is interesting to note that after the Magi or Wise men found Jesus they returned home by a different route. We can assume that their having found Jesus transformed their lives, because in the bible a change of path symbolises conversion. Surely this must be the outcome of our encountering the Lord, the capacity to take another road. Maybe to take on a new way of living, a way that will give more meaning, more peace and joy to ourselves and others who may be influenced by us.

The Wise Men encountered Herod and the Jewish leaders as they searched for Jesus. Who are the Herods that we encounter in our lives? Who are those who may seek to use us for their own ends but are not interested in what is best for us? We need to be aware of those who exploit others for their own ends – we can call to mind the way children are being misused and abused. We see on TV child soldiers, or those forced to work under terrible dehumanising conditions. We also are more aware these days of the sexual exploitation of children and women. May the Good Lord open our eyes to people interested only in using us for their own selfish ends.

We need to remember also that the Epiphany is not a ‘mere’ celebration of a past “event”, of a revelation of Jesus to the Magi at Bethlehem about 2,000 years ago. Rather does it remind us that his Epiphany, his revelation is an ongoing process. Christ is ever being revealed more and more to women and men as the fulfillment of their hopes and promises.

In the stories of the birth of Jesus, it is interesting to observe how different people came to know about Jesus. For the shepherds it was a heavenly vision of angels, for the Magi it was a star, for Herod through a searching of the Scriptures. Of these different ways it would be wrong to say one way was as good as another. We see that the guiding light of the star needed the supernatural light of scriptural revelation to complement it.

“Lord Jesus, we believe that you are the Way, the only star that can guide us safely in life to that peace and joy that each of us seeks. May our daily lives be a manifestation, an Epiphany to others that you alone are worth seeking for and following. May we too like the Wise Men be searchers for what is truly life-giving, You alone. May our lives witness to this to others by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  

Fr Jim Kirstein, SMA

18 December 2011

2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8-11,16
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38

There is a wonderful story of a four year old child. On reaching her fourth birthday, her parents decided that it was time for her to sleep in a room of her own. As the mother put her to bed that night, she said – “you are now a big girl with your own room: there is no need for you to be afraid. We will always be near you”. Some time later the mother quietly came to the room and heard the little girl crying – who then said to her mother. “I am frightened here, I do not want to be alone”. “You are not alone”, the mother said, “God is here with you”. “I know God is here, but right now I need someone with skin”.

Today in the gospel we hear of a God who wants to come to us with skin. His love for us is so great that he decided to come amongst us as one like us in all things except sin. But he decided he needed help from a human being to bring this about. In his great humility he decided to ask a young Jewish woman Mary. This reminds us that God never forces his way into our lives. He shows us great respect and courtesy by asking our permission as he did in the case of Mary.

So God’s choice of us has nothing to do with our virtue or goodness. The focus always has to be on God’s totally free and mysterious choice. God always chooses those whom he wants and very often it is the opposite of what we humans would do. In today’s gospel there is no point in asking what Mary did to deserve God’s gifts, God’s choice of her. She is ‘full of grace and blessed among women’ and she received God’s gifts simply because of God’s incredible love. It is not Mary’s effort that we must focus on or discover but rather God’s love and goodness that we must discern. No one amongst us deserves God’s choice of us, God’s election. The gifts and favors, which we have received from God, reflect the generosity of God, not the worthiness of the receiver.  Mary is blessed because of God and so are we.

But Mary was not a robot; she did not have to cooperate with God. When the angel went to her, the text does not say Mary was at prayer. She could have been working about the house or gardening. We cannot determine how or when God comes to us. The really important fact was that Mary heard God’s call and responded to it. She was afraid of what was being asked of her and yet she questioned God’s call to see how could it be possible and that’s o.k. with God. He treats us as intelligent beings who can ask questions as we seek the way forward. Then she accepts God’s invitation and says ‘yes’ but is not given any certainty about how the future will unfold. The only assurance that she is given is that the Holy Spirit will be with her and that nothing is impossible for God. This is enough for Mary who then gives her consent and trusts God totally.

Perhaps the greatness of Mary was that her ‘yes’ to God allowed God into our world in a way never experienced up to that moment. Her ‘yes’ meant that Jesus was able to come amongst us as someone like ourselves, fully human. Mary’s heart was open to God and it allowed great things to be done to her.

As we reach this last Sunday of Advent, the last before Christmas we have the same capacity. Every time we say ‘yes’ to God, we allow God to enter into our world. Our ‘yes’ maybe a response to God’s invitation to forgive someone, to visit a sick person, to help a poor person, to give more time to God in prayer, to attend our parish Reconciliation Service.

Mary made Christmas possible just as Jesus’ ‘yes’ to his Father made salvation possible for us. In fact, Jesus entered the world through the power of the Spirit when Mary said yes to the angel.

Mary’s womb was empty to receive Jesus. Will we have an empty area in our hearts also or will we be filled with time given to shopping, visiting, and celebrating? Each of these has its place. Mary did no preaching, no miracles, she wasn’t at the Last Supper but she gave Jesus to our world. She is the greatest of humans simply because whatever God asked of her in mostly very ordinary things in life, like visiting a pregnant cousin Elizabeth, being sensitive to the couple in Cana at whose wedding feast the wine ran out, standing by Jesus in his agony on the cross, she did. These things we all can do: visit people in need, be sensitive to the wants of others, and stay with others as they suffer.

Mary was no great theologian or philosopher. Because Jesus spent nine months next to her heart in the womb and because she spent nearly all the 33 years of his life close to Jesus, she can help us to stay close to Jesus too and to hear his voice and respond as she did. Do we pray to God for help before making important decisions, choices in life?

“Lord Jesus, thank you for the choice of Mary and the choice of each of us who have received the great gift of faith. May we like her always be under the influence of the Holy Spirit so that you can also do great things through us in our world today.  Amen”.

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

4 December 2011

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Peter 3:8-14
Mark 1:1-8

A young woman in her mid twenties went regularly to visit her old aunt. Because the young woman was quiet by nature it was the aunt who did most of the talking. At their last meeting it was the young woman who did nearly all the talking. She spoke practically non-stop about a young man Marcus whom she had met some time before. They had been out together a number of times and the old aunt had no doubt that she had fallen in love with him since she could not speak of anything else.

The gospel of Mark, the opening verses of which compose today’s gospel are like that. Mark has been so captivated by the person of Jesus that he has only one aim – to get people to know and commit themselves to be disciples of Jesus.

John the Baptist has exactly the same vocation. We find him in the wilderness. What is he doing? He is proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Unless people are first convicted of sin they cannot know the need of a Saviour.

Repentance is not the same as penance. For most of us penance in religious terms is depriving ourselves of something in order to atone for our sins.

Repentance however is basically changing from looking at life in the ways I normally do to looking at it from God’s point of view, through the eyes of Jesus.

What then are the most important things for me in life?  How would I prioritise my values?  Do they correspond to God’s way of looking at things?

Since the emphasis in today’s gospel is on preparation, to prepare the way of the Lord we might want to start with ourselves. Do I need to celebrate the sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession this Advent?

John the Baptist is preparing the way for the coming of Jesus. He speaks of the One who is coming after him, the One who will baptise with the Holy Spirit. Like Mark John the Baptist’s role is to get the people to be ready for Jesus when he appears. John is a very humble man. He had many people going into the wilderness to see him and he could have been tempted to use this power for himself. But he is very clear about his mission. He is the one sent to announce and prepare the people for Jesus. Then he will get out of the way and leave the stage to Jesus.

Nearly all of us have had the experience of calling some office or institution. We ask the one who replies if we can talk to someone we name. She replies that she is now connecting us to that person, makes the connection and then gets out of the way. John the Baptist saw his role like that. He wanted simply to connect people to Jesus since in his humility he knew Jesus was the One the people needed.

The gospel today opens with the sentence ‘The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’. So this is saying that the Good News is a person, the person of Jesus. Is this true for me?  Unfortunately many people fear God, whom they think wishes to punish us for our sins. This is truly disastrous and is contrary to the image of God presented by Jesus in the four Gospels. The first reading and the gospel today show this. How could we say Jesus was good news if he were out to punish us?

For the people of Isaiah’s time in the first reading, the prophet wrote his consoling words to the people of Israel when they were in Exile. They were convinced that their time in Exile was due to their abandoning God’s ways. They thought that God had forgotten them as a way of punishing them. Now the prophet is telling them the good news, the consoling words that God will bring them back from exile to their own land. What did they do to deserve this? In a word nothing. It was God’s love for them, his loving concern for them that caused this. So God’s act is not conditioned by human virtue or goodness. Our time of preparation at Advent for the Lord’s coming is not so that he will reward us. It is in fact our response of gratitude to him for his totally free, undeserved, unmerited gift of his love. Our preparation to turn back to God wherever this is necessary is our thank you to God. Preparation then is our response to a promise not a condition for its fulfillment.

The opening verse today ‘The beginning of the Good News’ is precisely that. It is a beginning.

What happens then?

Amazingly God is saying to each of you and me. “I sent my son Jesus to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. I wanted him to show you how totally and unconditionally I love you. That is why he spoke so often about my forgiveness. But I cannot forgive those who don’t want it. They have shut me out. So Jesus is the beginning of the good news. Will you help me to complete it by preparing, not only to celebrate his first coming at Christmas but also to prepare for his coming at the end of the world?

The way is simple but not always easy. It is by living according to my values: loving, forgiving, being compassionate, supporting each other especially in time of life’s difficulties, like bereavements, tragedies, loneliness, depression etc. I really need you to complete the work he began.  Will you help?”

“Lord Jesus, give us your Holy Spirit to help us prepare well for your coming this Christmas and always”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA, African Missions, Cork

13 November 2011

Proverbs 31.10-13,19-20,30-31
1 Thessalonians 5.1-6
Matthew 25.14-30

A young priest of my own Society, the Society of African Missions, shortly after arriving in an African country was sent by his parish priest to an area which had never been evangelised before. His superior told him that the first thing he needed to do was to go to the local chief as a courtesy and ask him if he could speak to the people there about God. If the answer was yes he should stay there, if not he should return. But the parish priest told him that he had heard conflicting reports about the chief. Most said he would be welcoming but one or two said he was a hard man and would refuse permission. The young priest wasn’t too confident but he went prepared to risk refusal, being told he was unwelcome. In fact, the chief was very welcoming and told him he could do his work without any interference.

Today’s parable is like that. The main point of the parable is the character of the owner. He entrusted his property to his servants, not to family members or friends as such. He was prepared to risk.  He obviously was a generous man and he saw the potential in the three servants, giving certain talents to each in proportion to his ability. He trusted that each servant would develop the talents given by him.

A long time after the owner returned and went through the accounts of each of the servants to see how they had done. The one who received 5 talents reported that he had made 5 more. The master congratulated him and gave him a reward out of all proportion to his efforts. He invited him to share in the master’s happiness. The one receiving 2 talents explained that he had gained two more. A talent was worth a thousand silver pieces which was an enormous sum. He also was complimented by the master and invited to join in the master’s happiness.

It is very interesting to note that both received the same reward. The master did not compare the one given five talents with the one who was given two. He didn’t expect the one who received 2 talents to have gained 5. He was wise and kind enough to ask each to work to his own particular capacity or ability.

When he who received the one talent went to the master he gave him back the talent with no gain. He explained that he had heard the master was a hard man and would demand much in return. Obviously this was not true as we saw with the other two. The master was happy with a fair return.

The problem, it seems, with the third servant who hid his master’s money in the ground was that he was afraid to risk, as the master risked with him in giving him the talent to develop. It was like the parish priest in the story who told the young priest that most said the chief was a kind man, only one or two said the opposite. The servant receiving the one talent depended on hearsay, not his own experience of the master. What he heard of the master was obviously untrue.

Why was the one talent taken from him and given to the one with the five? This is a truth we are all familiar with. For example – we ourselves grow in maturity when we develop our talents or we lose them if we don’t develop them. If I am perfectly healthy and decide to stay in bed for 6 months, I will lose my ability to walk so it is not God who causes this. It is my own decision not to use my legs. We may also say, what can I do with just one talent?  Look at all the problems of the world. But God isn’t asking me to solve these; he is asking me to use my talent wherever I find myself.

The parable, then, is asking us what Image of God do we have?  If we believe in the God revealed by Jesus then we will be prepared to use our talents, knowing that if we don’t always succeed, God will appreciate our efforts. God is incredibly understanding. Mother Teresa put it well.  “My God did not ask me to be successful but to be faithful”. Jesus came and developed his talents to give us an example, first of all as a carpenter and then later on as a preacher and leader and with his compassion healing many and forgiving sinners. He accepted the company of sinners, outsiders and holy people equally.

God, like the owner in the parable is marvelously generous. He trusts us as the master did the three servants with his property. It was a risk for the master but our God is surely a God of risk. He gives us a beautiful world and how are we doing? The environmentalists and ecologists will say disastrously, if one is to believe in the theory of global warming. He gives each of us many talents but never, never compares us with one another.  So how are we using our talents? Like the talents of our bodies, how do we treat them? What of our children, our compassion re asylum seekers, using our talents not only for those we love but also for the poor.  How will people have a correct Image of a generous, compassionate, forgiving God if we do not witness to it in our use of the talents received from our generous God?

“Lord Jesus, thank you for the many talents you give us, for never comparing us with each other since our talents are special to each of us.  Help to live our lives that others may come to have a correct Image of you. Amen”.

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

Mission Sunday 2011

Today we are invited to think about the missionary work of the Church. In fact, if the Church is not acting in a missionary way it is NOT Church. And the Church is not something ‘out there’ or just a building or a group of clergy and bishops. No! The Church is each and every man, woman and child who has been baptised.

Accepting that the Church is missionary by its very nature – i.e. that just as God sent Jesus so too every baptised person is sent by the Church. Sent for what? To proclaim the Christian Message that ‘God loves me’.

The mission of the Church is to proclaim that message, not just by words but also through its actions. And whenever it (i.e. you or I or other Church members) fail to do so, then we are not acting as true members of the Church. In fact, as we all now know too well, there have been too many instances when the message of Christ was not preached and the work, not of God, but of the Devil was done.

God loves me.

In order to preach – by word and action – this message it is imperative that I first know what this means for me. And so the first missionary journey is for me to go into the depths of my own heart and mind and discover what ‘God loves me’ means for me. And when I discover this then I’m able to go to others and try to make that love present in their lives.

It is because of our baptism that we are missionaries. The Baptism ceremony (which most of us knew nothing about at the time of our own baptism) commissions us to go out and preach the Gospel – not in a showy way, but by the way we live every day of our lives. When anointed with the Oil of Chrism we are commissioned to act as ‘priest, prophet and King’. When we receive the Lighted Candle we are told to keep the flame of faith alive in our hearts. We keep an ordinary fire alight by putting wood or coal (smokeless of course) on it; we keep the flame of faith alive by prayer and good deeds.

The vast majority of Church members will do this in their day-to-day lives as single or married, employed, without work, retired, students, physically challenged etc etc. But there are a small number who will leave their own country and people and go to a foreign place to preach the message that God loves the people there too. And, through many different activities – clinics, schools, provision of water etc etc – they will make those three simple words ‘real’ in the situation where they find themselves.

On this Mission Sunday, in an Ireland racked from the mismanagement of some, may the many committed Christians spare a thought, and say a prayer, for our missionaries who have left Ireland to preach the Good News in other lands.

And let us also remember the many thousands who have been forced to leave this land in recent years – may they, wherever they find themselves seeking a living – be missionaries in that place. May they experience the love of God – in New Zealand, Canada, Dubai… – and may they share that love of God every day of their lives.

Martin Kavanagh SMA

16 October 2011 

Isaiah 45.1, 4-6
1 Thessalonians 1.1-5
Matthew 22.15-21

One time I was driving a friend of mine to the airport. I jokingly asked him with which passport he was travelling on that journey. The fact was that his parents were of one nationality, he of another. As a result he had two passports. He held a passport of the country he was born in but he also had the passport of the country his parents came from. He had dual citizenship.

In today’s gospel the question of dual citizenship is raised. But it is a question which is set as a trap for Jesus. This posed a dilemma for Jesus. If he said it was unlawful to pay tax, those who asked the question would immediately report him to the Roman government officials for being anti-Roman and his arrest would surely follow. If he said that it was lawful to pay the tax, he would stand discredited in the eyes of many of the people. Not only did the people resent the tax as most people resent taxation; the Jews resented it more for religious reasons. For a Jew God was the only king; their nation was a theocracy meaning that they did not give their allegiance to any human king or ruler. To pay tax to an earthly king was to admit the validity of his kingship and thereby insult God. Therefore whichever answer Jesus gave, they assumed, would leave himself open to trouble.

The answer of Jesus certainly surprised them. Instead of laying down hard and fast rules and regulations which he rarely did, he lays down principles as was usually the case. Here he lays down a very great and important one. Every Christian has dual citizenship. He is a citizen of the country in which he happens to live. To it he owes many things, security, public services etc. In a welfare state the citizen owes still more to the state, education, medical services, unemployment and retirement benefits. This places him under a debt of obligation. So a Christian has a duty to be a responsible citizen. Failure to be a good citizen is failure in Christian duty. But a Christian is also a citizen of heaven and he is expected to live according to the commandments, the Law of God. If there is a clash or an opposition between the two, doing what we believe to be God’s will must prevail. Being against abortion would be an example.

There is an important lesson in today’s gospel.

Once a man went to visit his friend of school days. They hadn’t met for years but kept in contact by letter.  Now this man decided it would be good to meet up again. However, he wasn’t sure when he arrived at the street given in the address which house his friend now lived in. He decided to ask some children of about 11 years of age who were playing nearby. As soon as he saw one of them he knew he was the son of his friend. He told him later. ‘I knew he was your son as soon as I saw him since he is the image of you’. In the gospel when Jesus asks to see the coin the Pharisees and Herodians, who were out to trap him, paid the tax with Jesus asked them, whose head was on it, whose name. This was another way of saying ‘whose image is on the coin?’ Obviously it was that of the emperor Caesar. For us Christians it is not just an image stamped on a coin or something else external to us. We are told that we are created in the image and likeness of God. The image is stamped on our very being when we are created. This may have little effect for many people. It seems the image they live by is money, power etc rather than what is stamped on their very being.

So on this Sunday what image do we live out of?  Are we conscious enough of our image and likeness to God? Do we live our lives accordingly? Does our behaviour and lifestyle influence / inspire others to such an extent that it attracts them to follow Jesus because of us?

The world we live in is highly influenced by image. More and more there is a danger that we are an image conscious people. Some young people risk their lives due to anorexia or bulimia because the image presented is that of being very slim. Others will follow pop stars some of whom have died because of an overdose. With billions being spent yearly on advertising we can be seduced into living according to an image created by outsides agencies. The Good News today is that God is telling us that we are incredibly blessed in being citizens of heaven, having his image and called to be real missionaries.

“Lord Jesus, praise and thank you for creating us in your own image and likeness.  Help us not to forget this and live as true missionaries so that others may come to follow you too.  Amen.”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

9 October 2011

 Isaiah 25.6-10
Philippians 4.12-14, 19-20
Matthew 22.1-14

A married couple received an invitation to attend the birthday celebrations of the wife’s brother who had just reached 50. But her husband refused to go saying that the last 4 or 5 birthday parties had been boring, a waste of time and besides he had something better to do with his time.  When she arrived home he said to her, ‘well, I presume I made the correct decision not to go, boring as usual, was it?’  ‘On the contrary’, she replied, ‘you missed out on a terrific celebration.  Maybe the most enjoyable birthday party I have ever been at. I would have regretted not going, never knowing myself what I would have missed’.

The parable in today’s gospel is about another celebration and the response of those who had been invited. We need to remember that in the culture of the time and the difficulties regarding travel, usually the invitations were sent out a long time before the actual celebration. So the invitees would have been well warned ahead of time. Then when the food and other preparations were ready the servants were sent out to inform the guests that everything had been prepared and ready so they could now attend.

But they weren’t interested. They had other claims on their time. Most of them did nothing wrong, they weren’t planning evil or scheming to do bad things. Simply they considered other things more important. One went to his farm, other to his business. Other calls, other voices were louder. We ourselves live in a world of amazing busyness. In banks or supermarkets, there is background music. Practically everywhere, sometimes even in church, we hear the sound of mobile phones ringing. Then we have satellite dishes for TV programmes. There is the computer as well as the Internet. How are we hearing the voice of God calling to us in our lives with all these making their own claims on our time? Then there is the future to be planned for, the children to be looked after. In the midst of all this busyness can we find time to respond to the invitation of Christ? Just as we have to tune into the radio to listen to the programme we want, even more so do we need to tune into the gentle voice of God calling us to respond to his invitation.

So why did the people who went to their farms and business not respond to the king’s invitation.  Was it because they didn’t realise what they would miss like the husband in the story? Maybe they didn’t see it as a value more important than whatever else was on offer?  Since the kingdom of God is compared to a wedding feast, a banquet, we have a weekly, even daily banquet on offer in the Eucharist. Do we make even time for the Sunday Eucharist? If not, maybe we don’t realise its value for nourishing us, for strengthening us on our journey through life. We may even find it boring, not very entertaining since most of the time radio, TV, video games, Internet seem so much more stimulating. This may be true for many people but the Eucharist is not only for what it can give us. We need also ask what do I bring to the Eucharist? How do I come to it? With a week of effort to live according to Christian values, meaning my attempts at forgiveness, justice to those around me, kindness etc.

The parable reminds us too that the invitation of God is to a wedding feast. His invitation is to joy. To think of Christianity as a gloomy affair, giving up everything which brings laughter, sunshine and joy is to mistake its nature.  It is to joy that the Christian is invited; and it is that joy he is missing out on when he or she refuses the invitation.

The Good News of today’s gospel is that everyone is invited to belong to God’s kingdom, each of us is invited to the wedding feast, a symbol for heaven. No one is excluded. The parable was addressed to the Jewish leaders and they would have had no doubt was Jesus was saying. Responding or not God would choose others also. This was unacceptable to them. They assumed no Gentiles, foreigners or pagans would be invited. But God does not force anyone to enter. The invitation is his, the choice is ours. 

This is seen in the second part of today’s gospel. The king had sent his servants to the crossroads to find everyone they could find to go to the wedding feast. But during the feast the king noticed someone without a wedding garment and he was expelled. What Jesus is telling us is that once we have accepted the invitation we must be different people since to believe in Christ is to be different. We need to live our lives in a different way; that is, according to gospel values.  That is the wedding garment God invites us to put on. We need to clothe ourselves with the attitude of Jesus. There is no point in coming to worship God if we don’t feel obliged to live justice, truth or kindness. We can’t go to the Sunday Eucharist and offer a sign of peace if there is hatred in our hearts, if after the celebration we leave and act in an unchristian way. We are to clothe ourselves in truth, kindness, in forgiveness, compassion and honesty.

 “Lord Jesus, despite our many failings we praise and thank you for inviting us to the wedding feast. May we clothe ourselves with your attitudes as a practical manner of expressing our gratitude.  Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

2 October 2011

Isaiah 5.1-7
Philippians 4.6-9
Matthew 21.33-43

Recently a certain man was bitterly complaining to his friend that the government had made a court order taking almost all his farmland from him because they wanted to build a big highway and it was necessary for the development of the area. They told him that he would be compensated for the land taken. But he just could not accept this. He said that his family had lived on the land for many generations and it was now being taken from them unfairly. He said he could never forgive them no matter what reason they gave for this.

In the gospel today we have a parable about another piece of land, this time a vineyard. Here the original owner of the land planted a vineyard. He put a hedge around it, dug a winepress and built a tower. He obviously spent a good deal of money hiring people to do all this for him. Then when all this hard work was done and now that the land was much more valuable because of this development, he leased it to some tenants. These were given the finished product so to speak. They didn’t even have to do any planting. Their task was to wait for harvest time and gather in the harvest. At harvest time the owner who had gone away sent some servants to get his share.  It was the practice that he would have paid the tenants in one way or another, by money or giving them part of the harvest.

Amazingly, not only did these tenants refuse to give the servants the produce due to the owner but they actually either injured them or killed them. They probably felt the owner was far away and wouldn’t have been able to do anything in the short term. But the owner persisted and sent some more servants in the hope of getting what was due to him. There was no change of heart on the part of the tenants who acted as before. It seems odd at this stage that he didn’t arrive himself with many servants to deal with the situation. He seems to have been incredibly patient hoping for a change of heart despite all appearances to the contrary. Finally the owner sent his son hoping this might resolve the matter. To me this seems an incredibly naïve response on the part of the owner. Surely he must have been realistic enough to know that the son would receive similar treatment. And so he did.

Jesus addressed the parable to the chief priests and elders of the people.  It would not have been too difficult for these to know that Jesus was speaking about the way that the Jewish people treated the many prophets sent by God. These religious leaders would have known that the parable was addressed especially to them. They had been given authority by God to lead their people. Yet, how much violence and oppression was being committed in the name of that authority. The readers of Matthew’s gospel would have realised that the son in the parable was Jesus himself and that he had a similar ending to many of the prophets who spoke on behalf of God – persecution and death. Finally, they knew that the prophecy of Jesus was being fulfilled even shortly after his death. “The kingdom of God would be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit”.

In the first reading from the prophet Isaiah we hear that the Lord “expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry” v.7.  The God of life and love wants justice to rule in the midst of his people and he wants the rights of everyone, especially the poorest to be respected. These are the fruits that the vineyard, which the Lord planted and cared for, should have produced.

Perhaps the Good News of today’s gospel is that God never gives up on us. God continued to send prophet after prophet to call the Chosen People, the People of Israel back from following false gods and not practising justice and righteousness especially on behalf of the poor ones.  In spite of great rejection over the centuries he then sends his beloved son in one last throw of the dice, so to speak.  One might well think ‘how could he have been so naive?’  But it is not about naivete but of God’s incredible, constant, unwithdrawn love for his people.  Finally when he met with rejection he invites the non-Jews, the Gentiles to be his co-workers.

Where are we in all this? What type of grapes do we produce – good grapes or the sour grapes spoken of in Isaiah? In today’s readings from Isaiah and Matthew, God’s chosen people are described as belonging to God’s vineyard. The temptation is to act as if the vineyard (God’s physical and spiritual gifts) were our own private property. It’s not; it is God’s, and it is meant for the whole world. We are only the harvesters. We must share the harvest – physical and spiritual – with the whole world.

“Lord Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, help us to be good and faithful workers in your vineyard in return for so much love and the so many gifts received.  Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

18 September 2011

Isaiah 55.6-9
Philippians 1:20-24, 27
Matthew 20.1-16

Once there was a certain woman who complained to her brother that she felt that her husband was a bit naïve or foolish when it came to making money. Apparently her husband had a company but according to his wife employed many more workers than was necessary. She felt that he could have sacked a quarter of the workers who could easily have been done without. This would not in any way affect the smooth running of the company and a much greater profit would be the result. When the brother of his wife questioned him the man said. ‘Of course it is true but where would these men who were unskilled find work elsewhere?’. I employ them so that their families can eat and go to school. I make enough profit each year to live very comfortably. Why would I want to make more profit if it meant getting rid of many of my workers?

The story reminds us clearly of today’s gospel which is one of the parables of Jesus. The focus of the parable is the generosity and compassion of the landowner. This man goes out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He could have remained at home and waited for the labourers to come to him, as they would have searched for work there. But the landowner is the one who takes the initiative.  He is the one who goes out to search for labourers. Not only does he go early in the morning but he also goes a number of times during the day. There didn’t seem much point in going out at the ninth hour when the working hours were nearing their end. Certainly going out at the eleventh hour seemed rather foolish as these men could do hardly any worthwhile work. But of course that is the whole point of the parable. The landowner’s concern is not to make a huge profit. He is very concerned for the lives of those labourers who might otherwise be unemployed. Their families would also benefit.

The landowner is a symbol for God. He is the one who always makes the first move. He takes the initiative in seeking us out. He is not interested in seeking glory or profit for himself. His main concern is our good just as it was in the case of the landowner. God wants all people to be included in his kingdom just as the landowner wanted to give employment to as many as possible. God wants everyone to be included. The danger one feels is that some religions seem to make it hard for people to participate. They can set up many rules, which must be kept. This probably excludes a lot of people who then just leave their church.  God is the great Includer.  He welcomes everyone. As St.Paul says to Timothy: ‘God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’. (1 Tim.2.4).

The parable is raising the question as to what Image of God we have.  It seems that quite a number of people believe that God is a Profit and Loss God. That is, if we are virtuous, kind and forgiving to others we will earn God’s favour, his friendship.  The parable is telling us that this may well give a wrong understanding of who God is. When I was a seminarian we had a superior.  Once when someone asked him what the quality he most looked for in those preparing for the priesthood he immediately replied ‘generosity’. In the parable when those who worked hard all day long saw that those who came at the 3^rd, 6^th, 9^th and 11^th hours received the same as them they were very upset as we probably would have been if we had been in their place.  The reply of the landowner as it is of God according to Jesus was ‘Why be angry because I am generous?

And yet it should be a very consoling gospel for many of us. Maybe when we were younger or middle-aged we were not too concerned about God. Sure, we may have gone to Sunday Mass and said some prayers.  A fair number of people say that they wished that they were more attentive to God when they were younger. Especially if they have sinned seriously they wonder how they will make up for this. The parable reminds them that they are similar to those who came at the last part of the day and yet received the same as those who worked the whole day.  God is an incredibly generous God.  He does not act as we do.  This may be a hard lesson for us to believe. It is never too late to turn to God. We may feel ‘how can he forgive me for this or this?’  The parable underlines his generosity. Even if we only turn to him at the eleventh hour of our lives the parable confirms that God will give us place in his eternal kingdom.

Another aspect of the gospel is that the landowner made a contract with those who worked all day to pay them a denarius which was a day’s wage for labourers. They agreed to this and received their just reward.  With the others there was no contract just the promise of a fair wage.  They had to trust that he would be true to his word.  Their trust was very generously rewarded.  It would be a pity if we felt we were beyond God’s generosity.

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah underlines for us that God’s ways are as far above our ways and his thoughts so far above ours that we cannot fully understand his ways of acting.  The gospel says that the last shall be first just as those who were employed last of all were invited to come first.

Thus the parable is meant to underline God’s sovereignty or majesty in contrast to all human conceptions of work and wages. God’s sovereignty is seen in his goodness and generosity.  Isn’t it great that God doesn’t act or judge according to our human understanding of who we think he is and how he should act? All our human conceptions of justice have to be reinterpreted in the light of God’s ways of acting as the parable shows.

‘Lord Jesus, help us to believe in your incredible generosity and patience towards us. May we be true witnesses of these to others?  Amen’

Fr.Jim Kirstein, SMA

28 August 2011

Jeremiah 20:7-9
Romans 12:1-2
Matthew 16:21-27

During the Liberian Civil war one of our SMA missionaries was kidnapped. For some time we did not know whether he was alive or dead. Eventually he was released after negotiations with the rebels. For over 100 years we have been working in Liberia, and during the civil war it was a very risky and dangerous time for our missionaries. Yet they continued to expose themselves to danger because of their strong faith. They know that to follow Jesus will involve suffering.

In the gospel today Jesus began to make it clear to Peter and the disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and the Scribes. He was to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day. No sooner had Jesus said this than Peter reacted with violence. Peter had been brought up with the idea of a Messiah of power and glory and conquest. For him the idea of a suffering Messiah was incredible, in fact, unthinkable.  Peter ‘caught hold’ of Jesus, putting a protecting arm about him to try and stop him from following such a suicidal course. Peter’s words indicate this: ‘This must not and cannot happen to you’. And then came the great rebuke of Jesus that makes us catch our breaths – ‘get behind me Satan’. The literal meaning of the word ‘Satan’ is adversary. Peter’s words were not those of God but humans. What Jesus is saying here is that Peter cannot be the one who leads Jesus.  It is the other way round. Jesus is the Messiah and therefore the leader and all others are invited to follow. Jesus’ reaction contains both firmness and welcome. The Lord knows that discipleship involves a process. It takes time to understand and to put into practice.

So Peter’s Image of the Messiah, of God was a God of power and conquest, someone totally in control. Maybe we are like Peter at times. We wonder why God allows so much suffering in the world. Why doesn’t he use his power as we think he should? Again a human way of thinking. Sure, we would like to know but maybe in faith and humility we have to bow our heads and accept it. And whether we realise it or not the cross is at the very centre of all our lives.  It is easy to say this. But when suffering comes our way even when we try to lead a good life, we might feel tempted to stop following Jesus. The cross is not just on a wall in a room or in a church, or on a hill on Calvary, it is in all our lives when suffering or tragedy visits us. So it is not too difficult to understand Peter’s reaction.

We know that one does not have to be a Christian to experience the cross. Ultimately it is the motivation that counts. How will we react as Christians when any cross comes along? Jesus has gone the way before us and he invites us to follow him. We have his help and also his Holy Spirit to strengthen us.

We must remember too that each moment of our lives does not involve the cross. We could make people depressed if we gave that interpretation Reading the gospels we know that especially early on Jesus stayed in the houses of Peter, Mary and Martha. He certainly enjoyed eating and being with his friends and their families. But when the cross comes our way then Jesus is asking us to follow his way. Another reason for Peter’s strong reaction was that he began to realise more clearly what following Jesus involved.  It was not just only saying as we heard last Sunday, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’ Neither was it the number of miracles or the great popularity Jesus enjoyed earlier on.

The first reading from the prophet Jeremiah is very instructive. He says ‘you seduced me Lord and I let myself be seduced.’ When first called by Yahweh Jeremiah did not see all the consequences of his call. Later on when speaking the message of Yahweh which the people did not want to hear, he suffered greatly at their hands. Nevertheless he continued to be faithful to his vocation in spite of this.

May it not be the same for us? When we marry at first all can seem great but gradually the demands of marriage and the continuing call to be faithful may be very difficult, at times even like a crucifixion. It won’t be any different for those called to priesthood or religious life. Our own experience then may help us understand what Jesus meant by saying that he would suffer, be put to death and be raised up on the last day. We need to hear this Good News as well as the rest of his statement about suffering. In fact, we will have many experiences of resurrection, of being raised up in our lives: the birth of a baby or a grandchild; the success of our children at school in spite of many difficulties during their school days and study times; the recovery from a serious accident or health problem etc.

‘Lord Jesus, you invite us to follow you when times are good and happy but also when suffering and difficulties come our way. You have walked the path ahead of us. You know our human struggles and are very patient with us when we fail. Give us your powerful Holy Spirit to help us to be faithful to the end.’

Fr. Jim Kirstein SMA

21 August 2011

Isaiah 22:19 – 23
Romans 11:33 – 36
Matthew 16:13 – 20

“Who do you say I am ?”…

We know Peter’s inspirational response –
        ‘You are the Son of the living God’.
We know the varied opinions of those who met the historical Jesus from Nazareth –  
        ‘John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets’.

But you!  Who do you say He is?

We too have varied opinions about Him and may even relate only to a historical Jesus of Nazareth who died 2000 years ago.  Or like St. Paul, do you recognise and believe in a Risen Christ.   If not, then ‘your faith is useless and my preaching is in vain’.

The risen Christ enables us to reach into the very depths of God which St. Paul refers to in his letter to the Romans. In seeing the person of the Christ we see the nature of God.  Christ told his followers ‘if you have seen Me you have seen the Father.  The Father and I are one’.

Knowing Christ enables us to plummet the depths of God’s wisdom and knowledge.  To come to an understanding of God’s motives and methods. All this while still recognising our dependency on Him.  Knowing our place in relation to Him.  As St. Paul reminds us today – “who could ever be His counsellor?  Who could ever give Him anything or lend Him anything?  All that exists comes from Him, all is by Him and for Him.  To Him be glory for ever!  Amen.”

Fr Tom Fenlon SMA, SMA House, Claregalway

14 August 2011

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7
Romans 11:13-15, 29-32
Matthew 15:21-28

An Invitation…
           … to strangers…
                     … can do marvels…

This Gospel story can make us ask, why did Jesus respond to the Canaanite woman in this way?

But perhaps rather than wondering if Jesus did the right thing or not in his response to the woman, it would be better for us to focus on our own life, our relationships and reactions to people who come across our path unexpectedly.

Jesus was in this area – a foreign environment – at the time because of the strong opposition of the Pharisees – he was rejected by the religious leaders.

• How often have you found yourself in a strange environment?
• When last did you feel like a stranger?
• Do you meet people who are not part of your circle of friends or work group?
• When last did you feel rejected?
• Have you said or done something to cause others to feel rejected?

In our changing world new horizons open up daily as more and more people move from their own home base to new environments. The new horizons may come about through personal choice or they may be forced on us by circumstances. No matter which way they come they present a challenge.

The new environment, our personal “region of Tyre and Sidon” can be the place of a new beginning just as it was for Jesus when he met the woman who kept asking for healing for her daughter. The new beginning happens when we get over the initial resistance to what comes at us or when we find ourselves challenged by new demands, new places, new cultures and new needs. While we may not be able to meet all the ways we or others would wish, we know that our choices do make a difference – we grow and others grow by creating a new beginning.

• What new beginnings can you name in your life?
• How has your life been enriched by new beginnings?
• When last did you welcome a ‘stranger’, a rejected or self-rejecting person?
• When did you say to someone, “you have great faith”?
• How is your faith today?

– Fr John Dunne SMA
Blackrock Road, Cork

31 July 2011

Isaiah 55:1-3
Romans 8:35, 37-39
Matthew  14:13-21

As much as they wanted

These times I find myself listening to news, reading about it and so often saying to myself: So much of it is bad! bad! Tales of war, destruction, suicide bombings, drought, famine. I picture parents struggling to get money to buy food to feed hungry children. I am sure many is the time there is simply no money, so no food. Until when? Only God knows!

In our Readings today, we hear much about the reverse side of the coin. We meet someone who has the power to give us food, all the food we would want. And no money needed.
“Though you have no money, come! Listen to me and you will have good things to eat”
– Isaiah 55:

Sounds too good to be true! But it is not just anyone who is calling. It is the Lord himself, opening wide His hand.
“You open wide your hand,
Grant the desire of all who live” – Psalm 144

The Gospel tells us of the 5,000 plus: “They all ate as much as they wanted”. From the wine at the wedding feast to the crowds that day out in the open country, there would be no rationing with the Lord.

The hunger in our world today is all too real and painful. But there are other hungers too -hunger for peace and security, hunger for help and comfort in difficulties and, perhaps the strangest and deepest of all, the hunger for happiness.

So what remains? To believe, to trust that the Lord is absolutely to be relied on.

“As much as they wanted”…
Where does your wanting, your hunger lie? Perhaps it is not all that obvious to you?
The offers of today’s Readings do not come any better in this life of ours. Why not reach out for them?

– Fr Mick McGrath SMA
Kaduna, Nigeria

24 July 2011 

1 Kings 3:5-12
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52

Near to where I lived in Cork an old man was dying. He had been a farmer all his life. Knowing he would die soon he called his sons and told them that he had hidden his money in a certain part of the farm which was a fairly big one. He explained to them exactly where it was. Then he showed them a copy of his will and how that money was to be divided among his children, his wife being already dead. It was not unusual many years ago for people to hide money in the ground. They distrusted banks especially in those days and felt safer with their money near them, very often in a field or garden.

So in the first little parable of today’s gospel the listeners of Jesus would have understood the background to the parable, as they would have been aware of the practice of people hiding money or treasure in a field or garden. This was still more the case in a land where a man’s garden might at any time become a battlefield. Palestine was probably the most fought over country in the world.  And when war threatened the people it was common practice for them to hide their valuables in the ground before they took to flight, in the hope that they could return one day and could then dig up what they had buried.

It seems that the latest occupant of the land was doing some farming. In other words he was about his daily work when very unexpectedly he came across the treasure. The first thing to notice is that it was during the course of his daily work. For the most part this is where we find God who rarely comes to us in extraordinary ways. If we are aware of God’s Incarnational or ordinary ways of coming to us we may find him much more in our lives than we thought. So when I bring my kids to school and they kiss and hug me on their return, here is surely a sign of God’s kissing and hugging me. When someone calls me on the phone to greet me there is God again inspiring the person to do this. Personally I have never experienced God kissing me or hugging me directly from heaven or phoning me from heaven! Have you? 

The other point in this little parable is the unexpected nature of finding the treasure. The parables suggest that things seem to happen by chance therefore surprising us. It is a way of saying that we are in the presence of mystery.  God’s gifts are always like that: totally free, unexpected and undeserved.

The main point of this little parable is the joy of the discovery that made the man willing to give up everything in order to make the treasure his own. The question begs itself. Is God our treasure? Are we so surprised by all the blessings we discover going through life that we will let go or give up all behaviour and attitudes that are contrary to God’s will.  Perhaps the most surprising aspect of all is that God regards us, his children, as his greatest treasure and he was prepared to give up all, even the life of Jesus on the cross for us, so that we could receive the fulness of life he has planned for us.  Is not this Good News?

In the second little parable the man is really searching for fine pearls. He finds a pearl of great price. And like the hidden treasure he is prepared to sell all he has and buy it. Are there not many people in our world searching for the pearl of great price, whatever or whoever it may be. We all search for a lasting happiness. Many search for it in wrong places or relationships. Many have tried these and found they didn’t answer their desires. Finally some turned to God and there found the pearl of great price they had been looking for. St.Augustine was one of these. Before his conversion he even sought it in a relationship with a woman with whom he a child. But it didn’t answer his deepest needs. Finally he turned to God and there he found the pearl of great price. The second little parable reminds us that God ought to be the pearl of great price in our lives. But is this true for you and me? Perhaps our lack of faith and trust prevents us from seeing God as such. Why not pray to him often to reveal himself to us as that great pearl and that the Holy Spirit would open our eyes and help us to respond generously and joyfully.

The third parable is that of a fishing net cast into the sea. Such a net does not select or discriminate. It is bound to include all it comes across. Jesus is telling us more Good News here. The Church is made up of saints and sinners. This is meant to be a reflection of God’s inclusive attitude towards us his children. The life of Jesus clearly showed this. He welcomed everyone.  It was one of the main reasons he was put the death. Most of the Jewish religious leaders were scandalised that Jesus accepted public sinners, adulterers, prostitutes, tax collectors etc as his friends. Can we do otherwise?

Just as a time of separation comes for the fisherman who keep the good fish and throw away the ones of no use, so too a time of separation will come when God will judge us. We are warned by Jesus not to judge others. All such separation must be left to God who is very compassionate, just and merciful.

“Lord Jesus, the three parables you have used in today’s gospel tell us that you are the treasure we really want to have, as well as being the pearl of great price. Help us not to settle for anything less. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

17 July 2011

Wisdom 12:13, 16-19
Romans 8:26-27
Matthew 13:24-43

A certain boy started Secondary School. He was quite intelligent as well as being good at sport. But he came from a disturbed family. The father had a drink problem and he and the wife were continually arguing and fighting. Before long this boy started to disturb the other boys in his class. At first he was warned to change his ways. But he didn’t seem to be able to do this. Then his parents were asked to see the principal of the school. As soon as he saw the parents he knew where the boy’s troublesome behaviour came from. Against the advice of a number of teachers who wanted to expel the boy for disturbing regularly, the principal who could see his great potential resisted. He took a personal interest in the boy who gradually because of the trust and concern of the principal began to improve his behaviour, eventually rewarding the principal’s patience and trust in him by finishing near the top of his class.

The opening parable of the gospel today is saying something similar. A farmer sowed good seed in his field but during the night his enemy came and sowed darnel or weeds among the wheat. When the wheat began to grow, the weeds appeared as well. The servants of the farmer felt the obvious thing to do was to pull out the weeds there and then. Amazingly the farmer said ‘no’. Rather, he told them to wait until harvest time and then they could gather the weeds in bundles and burn them.

In the parable, God is the farmer. God sows only good seed in our lives. Yet he knows that in the world there are people who live good lives and some who act in an evil way. This is quite obvious to us these days when we hear or see on our TV screens all the terrorist attacks in our world, many civil wars, not to mention the sexual exploitation of women and children as well as so much injustice. Many people ask the question ‘why doesn’t God weed out this people now and destroy them?’ The parable gives the answer. Like the school principal in the story only much more so, God sees the possibility for change in each of us. He is the God of many chances. He keeps on giving us more and more opportunities to change our ways. Why? Well, because he is God and that is the way God acts if we are to believe what Jesus does and teaches in the gospels. So Jesus is saying that it is God alone who makes the separation and amazingly he will only do so at the end of time. Where would any of us stand if it were otherwise and God weeded us out now? Which of us is without fault?

The Good News is that the parable is underlining the incredible patience and longsuffering of God towards us. He knows that there is the potential for good and evil in each of us. We all know this from our daily experience. And aren’t we all very blessed that God sees the great potential for goodness in each of us and gives us time to change. St.Peter says ‘think of God’s patience as your opportunity to be saved’.

Another reason why God allows the weeds in our lives even if he doesn’t put them there, is that if we didn’t have any struggles or shortcomings we would most probably not feel our need for God.  Experience tells us that it is when difficulties, suffering and trials come our way that we turn to God with greater focus and intensity. The terrorist attack of September 11 was a good example of this when many people who had lost interest in religion started praying and turning to God for strength and comfort.

In the parable the enemy came when everyone was asleep. By this we are reminded that in our lives as Christians we need to be vigilant. Isn’t it easy enough to get sucked into what is popular and to follow the present trends. For example we hear people saying ‘ I am living with my boy or girlfriend’.  After all many people are doing it. Or, if many people, even public personalities take bribes why shouldn’t I? Or again many people tell lies, why should I suffer by telling the truth. Does that mean that by doing these we are just in God’s eyes? For sure God will not punish us for these things but we will certainly punish ourselves and others whether we are found out or not. This is why God is giving us the time to convert as he knows we will suffer if we allow the weeds to become part of our lives. Sadly they can choke the wheat of peace and joy in our lives if we are not vigilant. We need to call often on God for his Holy Spirit to help us.

The parables in chapter 13 of Matthew’s gospel are about the presence of God’s kingdom in history and this involves a process. The kingdom does not arrive suddenly. Nor does conversion take place all at once.  For most of us it starts in a small way. This ought to encourage us. The parables of the yeast and the mustard seed in today’s gospel confirm this. God is patient with us.

Finally, the parable about the wheat and weeds leaves no room for ambiguous or lukewarm positions. We cannot choose both as Christians. When we are confronted with our own dishonesty or violation of basic of human rights we cannot be spectators. We have to choose life or death. We are constantly being called to be life-giving wheat. God knows we are capable of this and gives us his Spirit to do so.

 “Lord Jesus, help us to be more and more the life-giving wheat for others that you were. Amen”

Fr.Jim Kirstein, SMA

Reflection for Pentecost Sunday 2011 by Fr Pat Kelly SMA

Locked Up Holy Spirit

When great people die we often say their “spirit” lives after them. It’s not really their “spirit” – this accompanies them to await the final judgement. It’s really their “memory” that lives on and continues for a time to inspire their followers.

Jesus was different. After his Spirit ascended with him to heaven an amazing thing happened. On Pentecost he sent his Spirit back again into his disciples! He still sends his Spirit upon his followers today. Nobody else ever did that. The same Spirit that filled Jesus on earth – that empowered him to heal the sick and raise the dead – now lives in all who are open to receive him. On Pentecost we ponder this amazing truth!

“If this power abides in us” you ask, “why don’t I experience it? Why am I full of fears and anxieties? Why can’t I do the things that Jesus did?” (Read Mt.17:20) Lack of faith and trust can block this power being manifested in our lives.

The Holy Spirit is often represented as a dove. Imagine this dove locked up in a bird-cage. “I have the Holy Spirit” you say. “I received the Holy Spirit at Baptism and Confirmation.” Yes, he dwells in you – but perhaps you don’t give him any freedom. Perhaps you don’t take time to encounter his presence within you or don’t trust him to guide your life. The result  – you don’t experience his power. The Holy Spirit locked in a cage. (Read Rom.8:11). This Pentecost – open the cage door!

– Fr Pat Kelly SMA
Tenafly, USA

5 June 2011

Acts 1:1-11
Eph 1:17-23
Mt 28:16 -20

A few years a certain man was driving along in his car and suddenly another car came out of a side street and collided with the car in front of him.  He went to court as a witness and although the lawyers of the driver who caused the accident tried to show that this witness may not have seen things exactly as they happened, he simply kept repeating what he saw. He spoke from his personal experience of the accident and he was so convincing as he never changed what he said no matter how often he was questioned, the judge was in no doubt that he was telling things exactly as he had witnessed them.

Today’s feast of the Ascension is a call to the disciples of Jesus to be witnesses to all the world of what they experienced when they were with him while he was still alive.  It is interesting that today’s gospel from St.Matthew does not focus on the Ascension as such but on the sending of the apostles to carry out his mission to make disciples of all nations. What matters about the Ascension is not so much about how it happened as to what it means, namely that the time of visible Jesus on earth is ended for he is now in glory in heaven. It is now the time of the apostles and the Church.

For the apostles the Ascension obviously meant three things:

1. It was an ending. One stage had finished and another had begun. The day when their faith was faith in a flesh and blood person, Jesus of Nazareth has gone. Their faith depended on his being with them physically. Now they are linked to someone who is forever independent of space and time.
2. But it was equally a beginning.  The disciples did not leave the scene heartbroken. They left it with great joy. Now they knew they had a master from whom they would never be separated. Did he not say: ‘And know that I am with you always to the end of time.’ So rather than seeing the Ascension just as the departure of Jesus we should see it as the sending of the Church on mission (you, me and all Christians). We are being asked to take the place of Jesus. Wow! Rather than seeing the Church as an orphan it should be seen as being given adult status, being given the responsibility to witness to Jesus Christ. That is how much trust and confidence Jesus has in us to continue his work.
3. Still further, the Ascension gives the disciples the certainty that they had a friend not only on earth but also in heaven. Surely it is the most priceless thing of all to know and feel that in heaven there awaits us that self-same Jesus who on earth was so marvellously kind. To die is not to go out into the dark; it is to go to him.

In the story at the beginning it was the personal experience of the man who witnessed the accident that gave him the assurance to witness clearly and simply. So too for us as Christians we will be able to witness to Jesus only to the extent of our own personal experience of him. What then is the extent of my personal relationship to Jesus?  Do I allow him to be a true friend, someone to whom I feel close?  Does my personal experience of what he has done for me in my life make me want to share my knowledge of him with others? It is like a young man who has fallen in love and keeps on telling his friends about his girlfriend. He feels more alive because of her. Is it like that with Jesus and me? If not maybe I should pray to have this personal experience of him.

The first reading today from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that Jesus informed the apostles that they were not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised, in other words to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. It was as if Jesus was telling them very clearly that unless they had this Holy Spirit they could not possibly witness to him, as he would have wished them to. It is almost as if he is telling them.  ‘Please, please, do not claim to be my disciples, my followers if you try to do this without the help of the powerful Holy Spirit because it is impossible without his help’. Trying to be a disciple of Jesus, a close follower of his is just not possible without the Holy Spirit whom we receive in Baptism and Confirmation.  But whether we are aware of this and live out of this reality is another thing altogether.

The first reading also tells us that when Jesus ascended into heaven the apostles were gazing into the sky as he was taken from their sight. But the two men in white standing there ask ‘Why are you men from Galilee standing here looking into the sky?’ They are being told clearly that the Ascension rather than pointing to the skies directs the believers attention to the vast horizon of their mission on earth.

One very consoling fact in the gospel is that when the apostles saw him as he was about to ascend they fell down before him, though some hesitated. This phrase, ‘though some hesitated’ gives each of us so much courage and hope. That even though we may have certain doubts and hesitations about some aspects of our faith, these in themselves are no barriers to God using us. He sent out some hesitant apostles to be his witnesses. Can he not do the same with us if we offer ourselves to him?

‘Lord Jesus, help us to be true witnesses to you on earth with the help of the powerful Holy Spirit. Amen’

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

29 May 2011

Spirit of Truth…

“On a huge hill,
Cragged, and steep, Truth stands, and he that will
Reach her, about must, and about must go; 
And what the hill’s suddenness resists, win so”
                                                            – John Donne

The desire for truth is a fundamental aspiration of the human spirit.

This desire includes the desire to know the truth about what is happening in the world around us, but it is much more than that.

It is a desire for truth with a capital T. It is a desire a truth that not only illuminates the mind but that also liberates the heart. It is a truth that cannot be defined by words, only by living. Truth with a capital T is always more than knowledge. Knowledge is about things observed, but truth transcends the purely material levels. It is linked to wisdom and embraces the mysteries of who we are, where we came from and where we are going.

Knowledge originates in science; wisdom in true philosophy; truth in the religious experience of spiritual living. Knowledge deals with facts; wisdom, with relationships; truth, with ultimate values.

This is the Truth the 16th century English poet John Donne is referring to in the lines quoted above, lines which present the quest for truth as an arduous uphill journey.

In the Gospel today Christ tells us, however, that we are not alone in this quest. He sends us a helper, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, to accompany us in the quest. 

The Spirit of Truth not only teaches us a vision of life totally in harmony with the vision of God himself but guides us in all our decisions, actions and relationships, so that we may live by that vision. 

– Fr Michael McCabe SMA, SMA House of Studies, Nairobi, Kenya

15 May 2011

Acts of Apostles 2:14, 36-41
1 Peter 2:20-25
John 10:1-10

A certain young woman in her early thirties was a very fearful person. She was fearful of so many things: her health, that she would lose her job, that she might be killed in a car accident any day she travelled to work. She was fearful of risking marriage in case she married the wrong man etc. She really lived with so much fear in her life. That was 10 years ago. Since then there has been a great transformation in the life of this young woman.  She actually met a young man who understanding her fears gradually led her to an ever-greater freedom.  She eventually married him.

This young man reminds me of the last verse of today’s gospel when Jesus says ‘I have come that you may have life and have it to the full’. Of course the young man would never compare himself to what Jesus came to do. But he certainly helped the young woman who became his wife to have a much fuller, happier and less fearful existence. He led her out of her fears as the shepherd leads out his sheep.

What about you and me here this morning? How would we describe the quality of our lives?  Would we say that we are close to living life to the fulness? Are we at peace?  Do we experience much joy in our lives?  That is not to say that there won’t be difficulties and trials but deep down do we have this inner peace so many desire. So where do we go or to whom do we go to find this peace and joy? The great German mystic Meister Eckhart wrote: “As far as you are in God, thus far you are in peace and as far as you are outside God you are outside peace…for where you lack peace, you must necessarily lack God, since lack of peace comes from the creature and not from God”.

The image used for Jesus in the gospel today is that of a shepherd.  Jesus was living in a rural setting so the image of sheep and shepherd would have been familiar to the Jews. For the Jews down through their history God was seen to be a Good Shepherd for his people, always caring for them.

In the rural set-up of the time of Jesus a number of shepherds would bring their flocks home before night came. They would have put them into a common sheepfold or enclosure. Each night one shepherd would keep watch over all the sheep to guard against robbers or wild animals that could steal or kill the sheep. Early next morning all the shepherds would arrive, they would enter the sheepfold and call their sheep one by one, by name. The sheep would know the voice of their own shepherd who would lead them out to where they could pasture. Each shepherd knew his own sheep very well.

Like the young woman there are people who would are enclosed in their fears or addictions like drink, drugs, sex, money or power etc. That is why Jesus the Good Shepherd is inviting all to leave what is enclosing them and reach out for the fullness of life. He is inviting them to follow him to a greater freedom, peace, in fact to the fulness of life he offers in the gospel today.

There are many voices calling out to us each day. The voices of advertisements urging us to buy this or that product and so be happy. As if it was that easy. We rarely see sad faces in the adverts.  We are children of God and called into an ever-greater relationship with Jesus the Good Shepherd who alone can guide us along the way to true peace and joy.  I know a man who once decided to explore a large forest and nearly died of thirst because he got completely lost for nearly 3 days.  Luckily someone passed by the place where he was and so his life was saved.  From then on he would never enter the forest without a guide. Jesus the Good Shepherd is like that. A shepherd is there to guide his flock. We have a sure guide for life if we have a good relationship with Jesus. It is more than just saying prayers or going to Mass. It is asking him to teach us to become a real friend of his and have an ever-deeper friendship with him. The danger is that Jesus can remain a stranger to us unless we live close to him.

In Jesus’ time the true shepherd guided his flock, he nourished them, went after the stray, knew each sheep by name and assured their safety. Jesus does all this and even more for us if we allow him.

Before Jesus left the world, he commissioned Peter to feed his lambs and tend his sheep (John 21:15-16). The work of shepherding God’s flocks is an ongoing task that is entrusted to the whole church with Peter as head. As today we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday or Vocations Sunday we need to ask ourselves two important questions:

1          Am I a faithful member of God’s flock?

2          How could I participate more closely in the work of shepherding God’s flock?

Popes and bishops as well as parents, school teachers, church ministers etc – all participate in various forms of shepherding God’s flock. How can I be a better shepherd in my own state, reaching out with understanding and compassion to the weak and misguided dropouts of church and society, so that through me they may hear the loving voice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd?   Let us pray for genuine vocations to the priesthood, religious life and the lay state. 

“Lord Jesus, may I allow you to be the Good Shepherd in all areas of my life”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

8 May 2011

Acts of Apostles 2:14, 22-28
1 Peter 1:17-21
Luke 24: 13-35

Some time ago I was visiting a family and one morning the mother was sending 2 of her children to school. After a kiss and a hug for each, her final words of advice were: ‘Remember you never, never talk to strangers’. Unfortunately in nearly all cultures today this is very necessary advice.

What would have happened in the gospel today if the two disciples had refused to talk to the stranger who appeared at their side and started to converse with them? He noticed that they were very sad and downhearted and asked them what they had been talking about that had caused this. We know the answer from today’s gospel, ‘You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know about the things that have been happening there these last few days’. And they describe what happened to Jesus. This leads to a frank and profound dialogue that set their cold hearts on fire with insight and inspiration. All because they trusted a stranger and were open to inform and be informed by him.

In their disappointment and sadness they say to this stranger ‘our hope had been that he would have been the one to set Israel free’.

What of us today? What are our hopes? Do we hope that Jesus will set us free not from the Romans as in the case of the Jews of Jesus’ time but from fears, prejudices, from looking at reality in a wrong way, from our inability to forgive etc.

Cleopas and his companion shared with the stranger all the way through. Not only were they ready to share their confidences with him, but they went all the way and shared their meal and shelter with him. It was in the process of this sharing that the moment of disclosure occurred and they suddenly realised that the one whom they had accepted all along as a stranger was indeed Jesus, the answer to all their heart’s questions. This discovery that the one in whom they had trusted, Jesus Christ, was indeed alive and not dead, gave new meaning to their lives, their faith and their vocation. Banishing all fear and fatigue they went back that same night to rejoin the apostles and followers of Jesus and share the good news with them that they had met the risen Lord and that they met him in the person of a stranger.

It is important to note that Jesus explained to the two companions all the scriptures had spoken about him. So it was in breaking the Word of God for them that opened their eyes also. He did not speak only about the wonderful things God had done for his people and is still doing for us. He spoke of the suffering which was part of his own human experience.

“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory”.  It is may be enough easy to speak generally about the cross in life. But when it touches our own lives we may wonder where God is. Yet in genuinely trying to do God’s will, suffering will come our way, as for example when we try to be faithful in marriage, be honest, forgive, show kindness to all we meet etc. Then we may expect in faith that we will also share in the resurrection of Jesus and not only when we die. We ought to pray for all priests each week that they would have the gift of preparing their homilies well by prayer so as to be able to break the Word of God for their Sunday congregations. They owe it to them to do this. It is not an option but indeed a serious obligation.

When Jesus went in with the 2 disciples for a meal, he breaks the bread in his own special way and immediately they recognize him in this action. We are told that their eyes were opened. It might be good for us to ask the Lord to open our eyes too to recognize him in his Word and in the sacrament of his Body and Blood each time we take part in the celebration of Mass.

The problem for us is that nearly always God appears to us in so ordinary ways, in so ordinary people and actions each day. If we fail to see him in these and wait for extraordinary signs we may never encounter him.

The resurrection was for Jesus the dividing line between earthly life when he was limited to the form of a male Jewish body, and his risen life when he is no longer limited in this way. The risen Lord now appears in all types of bodies: male and female, White and Black, young and old, rich and poor, those with special needs, native and immigrant, Catholic and Protestant, Christian and Muslim, liberal and conservative etc. Though we may see those who are different from us as strangers, today’s gospel challenges us to start seeing them simply as companions on the way. When we reach out to them in hospitality we reach out to God and so receive his blessing.

‘Lord Jesus, open our eyes to recognise you in the breaking of the Word of God and at the breaking of the bread at each Eucharist. May we also see you in the strangers in our midst.  Amen’.

Fr. Jim  Kirstein, SMA

1 May 2011

Acts of Apostles 2.42-47
1 Peter 1.3-9
John 20.19-31

Some time ago I was speaking to a young man of about 27 years. He wanted to make a decision. He had been going with his girlfriend for the previous two years and he felt the time had come for him to decide whether to marry her or not. He listed many good qualities she had but he still wasn’t sure. He said also ‘when I see so many marriages nowadays ending up with couples separating how can I be certain the same won’t happen to us if we marry’. The simple answer is, of course, he can’t be certain. What would you think of this young man if before marrying he wanted every guarantee and assurance that he was not going to make a mistake in marrying his girlfriend? Many would regard him as a very calculating young man who had not much of a heart to give.

Maybe things have not changed much since the first Easter, and so, like Thomas, sometimes called ‘Doubting Thomas’, we may continue to ask for more than is needed in order to believe. Maybe we too would like to see and touch Jesus and have everything proved beyond doubt. We could not then be said to believe as there would be nothing left to believe in. Neither faith nor love call for absolute certainty.

Perhaps too we may think that having doubts of faith is something to be ashamed of. In fact if we have doubts and still believe in spite of them are we not making a great act of faith in the other? So like the young man doubting whether to marry or not, we too may have our doubts but basically we are saying to God.  ‘I believe in you’.  Even on the human level is not this a great gift, a great compliment to pay to another? Did you ever say to another ‘I believe in you’ as hopefully the young man decided to say to his girlfriend, ‘I believe enough in you to want you to be my wife. I believe we can have a very good future together and work through whatever difficulties may arise. Yes, I love you because I believe in you’. Did anyone ever say to you ‘I really believe in you’?  How did you feel as a result?

In the gospel today we have many doubters, not just Thomas. We have the disciples locked into the Upper Room because of fear. They were afraid that what happened to Jesus would happen to them. They have lost all faith in ever seeing Jesus again.  After all, he died on the cross and was buried. And then the unthinkable happens. Jesus appears in their midst.  His opening words are ‘Peace be with you’ and he repeats it again. There is no condemnation and we are told the disciples are filled with joy when they saw the Lord. But Thomas was not there and he refuses to believe them when they tell him about the appearance of the Risen Jesus. Eight days later Jesus appears again and this time Thomas is there. Again the opening words of Jesus are: ‘Peace be with you’. And in his great love Jesus came to the doubting Thomas and allowed him to touch his hands and side.  Then Jesus says ‘You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and believe’. Hopefully we are among those whom the Lord addresses. John is saying very clearly that the faith of the Church in the Risen Jesus does not depend on the sort of proof Thomas demanded. The reason for writing the gospel is then given. All the signs and miracles of Jesus are recorded so that people may believe that Jesus is the Son of God and believing they may have life in his name. The purpose of believing in Jesus is to have the fulness of life.

When Jesus appears to the disciples in today’s gospel he showed them his hands and feet meaning he went back to his Father in his woundedness. This is to say that we too can have confidence in going back to our Heavenly Father in our woundedness. Unlike Jesus whose wounds were physical, ours are our sins. And the Good News is that our wounds are no obstacle to our being with God. In fact he wishes we go to him and allow him to embrace us, wounds and all, as did the father of the Prodigal Son.

We are also told in today’s gospel that Jesus breathed on the disciples and gave them the Holy Spirit. We too are sent by Jesus and so need this Holy Spirit to witness to Jesus especially his forgiveness.

A very important aspect of today’s gospel is that the mission to proclaim the forgiveness of sins is entrusted to the community as a whole and not only to certain leaders. John describes the group simply as the gathering of the ‘disciples’.

It is above all by forgiving others that the gospel or Good News looks to the future, opening up the possibility of a new existence. We can always begin anew with God after failures.  The joyful realisation that one has been accepted by God even after betrayal and sin is a central part of the Easter experience and brings with it an obligation to become God’s instrument in announcing his forgiveness to all.

“Lord Jesus we believe you are risen from the dead. Praise you for always being faithful, always ready to forgive and especially for accepting us totally in our woundedness. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA