28 October 2012

Jeremiah 31.7-9
Hebrew 5.1-6
Mark 10.46-52

A man died and in his will he donated his eyes to his wife. Due to modern medicine and technology she was able to see for the first time at the age of 64. Her first words on being able to see apart from gratitude to God and to her late husband were: ‘incredible, but how can all you people who have always seen be so calm and seem so unaffected by all the beauty that surrounds you. Can’t you see the beauty in the faces of all others, be amazed at the different colours; look at the different shapes of all the trees, everything!’   Isn’t it probably true of most of us? – we seem to take it all for granted.

In the gospel today Jesus heals the blind man Bartimaeus and gives him back his sight. Bartimaeus is not only cut off from the beauty of the world; he is also cut off from other people. Some people believe that his blindness is due to his sin or the sin of his parents, so they think that he is also cut off from God.

It was as Jesus was about to leave the historical city of Jericho that the healing takes place. Jesus is now only 15 miles from Jerusalem where he will die shortly because of the blindness of the Jewish religious leaders, the Scribes and Pharisees. Bartimaeus sees what these others are unable to perceive. Very often the one who acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah come from the insignificant people of society, from those at the roadside; the marginalised, from people some try to silence.

Many of the readings of recent Sundays deal with blind people, people who look at life from their viewpoint only, so they remain totally blind to other possibilities. The eyes of the Pharisees are totally glued to the Law and the Commandments but seem blind to matters of the heart. The Rich Young man is blinded by his wealth and fails to see what Jesus is offering him. The disciples led by Peter are not much better. Their eyes are on the best places and they fail to see what Jesus is teaching them. So now today Mark tells us about Bartimaeus who was begging by the side of the road. So who really are the blind people? Who are those who see? Maybe those including ourselves who consider tranquillity and security the highest values and want to avoid all risks and to cling desperately to the old and familiar. Do I see or has Jesus still to open my eyes. Do I ask him to do this? Maybe I am afraid to.

Even though I may see physically, is it possible that I am blind spiritually, emotionally or psychologically? Physical blindness is not necessarily the worst kind. But the Good News of today’s gospel is that Jesus can do for us what he did for Bartimaeus if we have faith. Jesus said to Bartimaeus: ‘your faith has saved you’. But first of all we may need to ask Jesus to show us, if we really want this, to show us where we are blind and give us the healing. But if it is just to indulge ourselves maybe he won’t. Will we be prepared like Bartimaeus to follow Jesus along the road behind him – a road that could lead to suffering too?

So in the story we see Bartimaeus at the side of the road. He is not yet a follower of Jesus. He is blind so who told him it was Jesus? Who told you, me? Have I told anyone? Some people try to shut him up and prevent him from going to Jesus and so follow him. Have we had this experience? Or in any way by word or example done it to others. Above all, in the story we have Jesus. The crowd is all around him, shouting, pushing. Yet look at the sensitivity of Jesus who in spite of all this hears Bartimaeus shouting after him, maybe the only chance Bartimaeus will ever have. So Jesus calls him over. Others relay the invitation of Jesus, so again Jesus uses people to pass on his invitation today too. The man doesn’t delay but jumps up even throwing aside his cloak as it might hinder him. And when he reaches Jesus he is asked by Jesus ‘what do you want me to do for you?’ We might think, ‘Come on Jesus, the man is blind’. But no, that is not our God. He doesn’t force what might be our obvious needs on us against our will. Again the sensitivity and delicacy of Jesus. So he responds to the request of Bartimaeus because he knows that his faith leads him to trust that Jesus can heal him. God never forcefully enters into our lives but waits to be invited. Don’t you as parents and teachers have the same experience? Sometimes you know what is best for your children but you allow them the freedom necessary even to refuse and make mistakes.            

Finally Bartimaeus had to risk. As a beggar he was sure of a certain daily income. He had his place in the society of his time among his family, friends and fellow beggars. Now in following Jesus he takes the great risk of leaving that behind to follow Jesus not knowing where it might lead or what will happen to him. But he considers it worth the risk. Would you or I?

“Lord Jesus, we praise and thank you for the many gifts you give us, including the gift of sight. Open our eyes to all the areas of our lives where we are blind and unfree. Give us the Holy Spirit to take the risk of letting go of all that prevents us from following you more closely and having the fullness of life, beginning even now. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Sr Philomena McGuinness SSL shares some thoughts on the Feast of All Saints and the readings chosen for the Mass of that day.

In the times of great persecution of the early Church, there were so many martyrs that it was impossible to commemorate each one on an individual day. Eventually, when the Church was given an old Roman Temple dedicated to “all the gods”, the Pantheon became became a place to honour “All the Saints” and today’s feast was born.

The entire collection of Roman gods was called the ‘Pantheon’ and in ancient times, you could worship any of the gods whose statues were located in the niches of the building. The Pantheon was converted into a Catholic Church in 609 A.D. and dedicated to Our Lady and all the Martyrs.

On this feast of All Saints, we honour in a special way all the holy men and women who in their day-to-day lives have been challenged by the Gospel and have lived it generously.

First Reading             The Book of the Apocalypse 7:2-4, 9-14

A vision of the faithful followers of Christ rejoicing in his presence in the heavenly kingdom.

The Book of Revelation was written for Christians who were being persecuted for their faith towards the end of the first century. It is built on the promise that, after persecution, those who are faithful to God and to Christ will be delivered and gathered into the peace of God’s presence. At the time of writing, the persecuting force from which they were to be delivered was the might of the Roman Empire with its immorality, its materialism and above all, its demands that all its subjects should worship the Emperor as God.. All would have to cry ‘Caesar is Lord.’

Many Christian churches of Asia (a Roman province in the south-west region of Turkey) were under threat; the Christians there needed encouragement. A number of them had become martyrs; others would soon be killed and many of them were harassed by local authorities or even put in prison. The whole Book of the Apocalypse (Revelation) is a powerful message for persecuted Christians of the late first century for whom the great test was whether they would accept the standards of the Empire or remain faithful to the demanding standards of Christianity in a hostile world.

In today’s extract, after witnessing visions of the cosmic upheaval as the moon turns to blood and creation is clothed in darkness, the seer, John, hears the divine voice mandating the destroying angel to wait until a group of people are claimed as God’s own. He then has a first vision of an angel coming from the east, holding the seal of the living God and putting the seal on the foreheads of the Lord’ servants, that is, those who are ‘saved’.

Their number is 144,000, a symbolic number that should not be taken literally. It is not the exact number of those who will enter heaven. It refers to those members of the tribes of Israel who were faithful to the Covenant and benefit from God’s saving activity in the past through events like the Exodus and the return from exile. For the Jewish people this number signified completion: it meant twelve thousand people assigned to each of the twelve tribal units.

After this first vision, the second vision moves to the heavenly throne. It describes a great multitude that no one can count, of those saved by the blood of the Lamb, which is an image of Christ. These come from every nation, race, people and tongue. They all stand before God and in front of the Lamb; wearing white robes symbolising joy and innocence and holding palm branches in their hands as a sign of victory. They share in the victory that Christ has won over the powers of evil by his death on the cross.

Words of praise and victory are spoken and sung by a huge assembly. They are happily celebrating a heavenly Feast of Tabernacles (the most joyous of Jewish feasts.)

An interpreting elder confirms that that the victorious are those who have come triumphantly through tribulation and have not apostatised under threat of persecution.

Reflection

• Do I connive at and approve standards of behaviour that are built on a morality far from that of Christ? More pressingly, do I accept those standards for myself?
• The aim of the Apocalypse is to strengthen its audience’s commitment in the face of rejection and persecution. It attempts to bolster faith by assuring that everything has its place in the plan of God and that a final triumph is certain.
• In the late first century, people are already beginning to see more clearly that the Church is a community in which the dignity and value of each person is recognised as a child of God, without distinction of race, colour, sex or status.
• The heavenly court is an international assembly of ordinary people who have been faithful to God; real people whose struggles and frustrations come to a merciful end in the peace of God’s house. Dare I let myself hope for such a finale, the unity of all mankind, nations, tribes, peoples, languages?

Second Reading                                 1 John 3:1-3

In his love for us, God has made his children and destined us one day to see him as he is.

In this passage John invites his readers to be attentive to the fact that even in this life; they are really and truly children of God. As Christian believers we belong to God because they have been adopted in Christ. We are God’s children and in case there should be any doubt about it, John adds: ‘and this is what we are.’ We have been born to a new life and share, mysteriously but really, in the life of God. Therefore, we can be sure that each one of us is loved by the Father.

If the unbelieving world does not recognise the true status of Christians, it is because the world doesn’t recognise God either. John means by this that it has failed to recognise Jesus.

We have to await the coming of the Lord, to see him ‘as he is’ before we can arrive at full appreciation of our own identity, our own Christian reality – and only then, will we see clearly that our future state will be like the glorified state of Jesus.         

Moreover, our present relationship with God is only the beginning. Being children of God is a source of hope, but it also demands a response from us. Meanwhile, we must be close se to God in prayer, show the qualities of God in our actions – his generosity, forgiveness and openness – and live as witnesses to the love of Christ.

Reflection

• In the presence of Christ, our eyes will be opened, and we shall then truly understand what God has worked in us. What are the elements you look forward to in heaven?
• Who are the saints who have played a part in your life? In what ways does my sainthood manifest itself?
• How are we supposed to behave as we wait to meet Christ ‘as he really is’? We will be told that in the Beatitudes!

Gospel                                    Matthew 5:1-12

Jesus speaks about the qualities he wishes to see in his disciples. He makes wonderful promises to those who try to follow him.

The familiar Beatitudes are the Gospel reading today. They are the qualities that are to mark the followers of Jesus. They are a summary of the teaching of Jesus Christ. Many have recognised in them a portrait of Jesus himself.

One of the things Jesus is doing in this Gospel is enunciating a set of values that would be foundational in his kingdom he was putting in place. The important ones are poverty of spirit, gentleness, forgiveness, a hunger for justice, a passion for peace, a readiness to suffer in his name. These are very much at variance with pagan or worldly values such as pride, vindictiveness, belligerence, aggrandisement and war.

But more than enunciating a set of values, Jesus is describing (1) the stuff of which saints are made, (2) the characteristics of those who desire to participate in the life that Jesus would live and for which he would die and (3) the kind of people who would be citizens of his kingdom.

Reflection

• We see here the interior landscape of Jesus: poor in spirit, gentle, merciful, hungry for justice, pure in heart, a peacemaker – yet prepared to grieve and to suffer persecution in the cause of right. For most of the Beatitudes, there are gospel incidents in which Jesus sums them up: like the entry into Jerusalem as the gentle king on a donkey, or the love he shows in his welcome to sinners, or his bringing peace to those tortured by disease or contempt, or his purity of heart in his single-minded preoccupation with his Father’s will, and finally his acceptance of persecution for what he knew to be right. Any Christian may suddenly find him/herself face with similar challenges.
• Each of the ‘blesseds’ is a statement about something important in the Christian life. They are an ideal on how to live and how to find God close to us. We might ask for the grace today to live by this vision of life, which was at the root of how Jesus lived.
• If the qualities of the Beatitudes are not appreciated in our world, it is because the Kingdom of God is still to be established on this earth. This is why Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your Kingdom come.” (Mt. 6:10)
• Today we rejoice in all the saints of the Church, all the saints in our lives and what is saintly in each of us.   We thank God for all the holy and women who gone before us and those still among us today, who have enriched the Church and the world with their quiet witness to the Gospel, people whose lives are unheralded and whose names are unknown.   And if you feel thanked in the process, don’t feel confused!!
• Today’s feast includes all the saints who were never canonised: mothers and fathers who stayed faithful to one another and their families; single men and women who did good ‘unseen’; those who found God through the pain they endured; all those who never thought of themselves as holy but whose goodness was clear to those to them. Do I belong there?
• We belong to a community that has a history of goodness and fidelity to the Gospel. We are related to those who went before us, those who linked their belief to those who went before them. We are part of a chain of holiness. We belong to the sanctified brethren.
• We have our ancestors in faith who are blessed in heaven ‘a huge number, impossible to count of people from every nation, tribe and language.’ (Rev 7:9). And among them are counted people who know and love us. Today we salute them.
• We are a small part of a marvellous company of believers who struggle into holiness. The saints serve as models for us precisely because they were sinners like the rest of us. They inspire us. The only question is the extent to which we respond. They show us what we are capable of. Their standards and values are pointing in the direction we are to go. We feel their strength helping us and supporting us. This great company of witnesses spur us on to victory, to share their prize of everlasting glory.
• The annual celebration of ‘All Saints’ reminds us that the saints are not all alike. There are many different kinds of saints. It also reminds that the saints are not just those whose names are on some official list somewhere. Many saints, perhaps most saints, are not known to us by name.
• Finally, this feast reminds us that, to the extent that the life of Christ is still with us, we are all saints!! The only question is the extent to which we try to live a godly life as God’s children.

 Prayer

Lord, you have given us many friends in heaven.
Today we are grateful for the lives
of so many people of every age, church and century
who have done their best to live
in the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We ask for the ability to emulate them
and for fortitude in the face of the challenges
that face us in that mission.

In your goodness, give us fellowship with them
and unending joy in your Kingdom. Amen

7 October 2012

Genesis 2:18-24
Hebrews 2:9-11
Mark 10:2-16

Once I worked in a certain African country. In a rather remote area we had a small chapel and about a hundred Catholics. Among them was a couple married for over 40 years. She was the only wife he had in spite of the tradition which allowed him more. It was an amazing fact that he didn’t take more than one wife because they were childless. There had been tremendous pressure on him over the years to divorce his wife or to take another wife. But he was adamant that he would never divorce his wife even though it would have been easy to do so. In our modern culture today this would have been accepted as rather normal. He always replied ‘I love her and I will always be faithful to her’. But it was almost unthinkable given the culture he lived in that he remained faithful to the one wife. There childlessness was always the woman’s fault. Women had little standing and hardly any rights.

In the gospel today the Pharisees are out to trap Jesus on the question of divorce. The law handed down by Moses allowed it in certain cases. If Jesus declared otherwise he would have been seen as going against the Mosaic Law. Equally dangerous for Jesus was the fact that Herod had taken his brother Phillip’s wife Herodius so Jesus could be seen in some way of accusing Herod for this. We know that John the Baptist was beheaded for condemning Herod’s decision.

It is interesting to notice the way the question to Jesus was put. ‘Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife, not is it against the law for a woman to divorce here husband. Divorce was a very real issue for the Jews at the time of Jesus as indeed it is today in many Christian churches. For the Jews there were two schools of thought regarding divorce. One had a much stricter interpretation than the other. The rabbis from this school of thought would have said that adultery alone was the only reason for divorce. In the other school of thought the Rabbis were much more liberal and lenient saying that the man could divorce his wife for almost any reason even to the extent of saying he could divorce her if she burned his dinner or if he found another woman more attractive than his wife!

Jesus widens out the discussion recalling the creation story in Genesis, where it is said that man and woman are created equal by God and have complementary roles. Jesus says that women are not things. They do not belong to men as a bit of furniture or as a garment does. Marriage is the union of equal beings. This is the first account of creation in Genesis ch.1. Today’s Genesis text comes from ch. 2 which can be misinterpreted to mean that as woman came from man, she is to be his helpmate and is therefore inferior to man. Both man and woman are made in God’s image and likeness.

Jesus tells us quite clearly that divorce is not part of God’s plan. God’s dream is that a man and woman who married are called to mirror the fidelity of God towards us. A married couple is asked to reflect the covenant love of God for his people, a God who never fails in this promise of fidelity to us. He will never abandon us. But God knows as Jesus knew that we do not live in an ideal world. We are not ideal people. It is very important to have ideals before us and to live by them. But being human and sinners we will fail despite our most noble intentions. We are dishonest if we think otherwise. Any couple married for a long time will say that it takes a lot of ‘I do’s’ for a man and woman to become husband and wife, it takes a lot of dying to self. We all know from experience that there will be a lot of mistakes and compromises called for. But God’s grace, his Spirit is always there to empower us if we call on it. Who doesn’t make mistakes from time to time? This is equally true of priesthood and religious life. It is a process and a lifetime’s work.

The Church must proclaim the ideal of fidelity in marriage. This is God’s dream for us but it can happen and does that two partners in marriage may be unable to sustain their relationship so that their marriage no longer functions. It has become impossible to live in peace with each other without destroying each other. Here again the Church has to echo the gospel. And THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS OF TODAY’S GOSPEL. It has to proclaim the message of God’s mercy, of his liberating forgiveness. The gospel gives every person a future. There is no human failure so great that it is completely hopeless and no longer open to God’s mercy. God is the God of the second chance and the third and so on. Do we not all know this from our experience? Is a relationship that does not work out the only exception? Not according to God.

Jesus often showed that people were more important than rules or laws. He did not condemn the woman caught in adultery (John 8). He offers her another chance to begin a new life. He spoke to and welcomed the Samaritan woman who had had 5 husbands and was at the time living with another not her husband. And he uses her to evangelise her townspeople. God works in strange ways.

“Lord Jesus, may we never condemn people whose marriages have ended in divorce. Let us remember our own failings and delight in the reality that you are a God of incredible forgiveness and understanding. Amen”            

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

20 May 2012

Acts 1.1-11
Ephesians 1.17-23
Mark 16.15-20

A couple were married for over 50 years when the husband died after a short illness. Like many others in such a situation, I wonder how the wife felt; probably terribly Alone, Abandoned, Desolate, maybe orphaned. Perhaps, many of us have experienced losing a close relative or friend too.

Most probably the apostles and disciples felt the same at the death of Jesus. Did they recall his promise when he had said to them ‘I shall see you again and your hearts will be full of joy’. This is rather unlikely if we read some of the post-resurrection accounts. The Feast of the Ascension is not a commemoration of his departure from this world but of his presence in a new way. The resurrection was not simply a reversal of his death and a return to old times. It was a radical transformation of his presence.

For the apostles the Ascension meant three things

1) It was an ending. One stage was over and another had begun. Formerly Jesus was with them physically. Now his presence is that of a firm faith knowing he is still working with them.

2) It was a beginning. They are to take the place of Jesus and continue his work. It is like his handing on the baton to them and to us to continue his work.

3) The Ascension gives the disciples the certainty that they had a friend not only on earth but also in heaven. There awaits them and us the self-same Jesus who on earth was so marvelously kind, compassionate and forgiving. To die is not to go out into the dark. It is to go to him.

Thus, the Ascension is not a farewell feast; it does not lament the absence of Jesus. Rather it celebrates the new way Christ became present to his people through the gift of his Spirit. For sure, Christ went away from us so that we no longer experience his physical presence but he is closer to us now than he ever was before. When Jesus was on earth he was limited like us in space and time. This is no longer true of him. He is, so to speak, out and about. He is present to us in an equally powerful but different manner. We can turn to him in any place, in any situation knowing he is there for us. It is important to realise that the apostles and disciples never regretted the departure of Jesus after his Resurrection and Ascension.

In Acts 1.8 our first reading today we heard: ‘you will be my witnesses …even to the ends of the earth’. So today’s Solemnity, like that of Pentecost are feasts of Christian maturity. They are a call to continue Jesus’ mission in today’s world and the difficulties we face there. The power of the Spirit is with us. In Acts today Jesus warned his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high, the promise of the Father. It is as if Jesus were saying to the disciples: ‘please don’t claim to be working on my behalf as my witnesses unless you wait for, receive and live out of the power of the Spirit. If not, you will fail’.

We must not look up to heaven lamenting the absence of the Lord like the disciples did in the first reading today. We must face here on earth what God asks us to do and keep our feet firmly on the ground. We must set out to bring his gospel, his Good News to the ends of the earth. This is why any attempt to keep Christians in an attitude of dependency and immaturity without real responsibilities and voice in the Church is contrary to the meaning of the feast we are celebrating today. The Second Vatican Council strongly emphasized this.

And it is happening. In comparison to when I was growing up when the priest did everything, now in very many countries we have Lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, and the Laity as members of Parish Pastoral Councils, bringing Holy Communion to the sick, etc. In some countries because of the absence of priests, the laity do even more, like conducting funeral services, preparing people to be baptised and confirmed etc. This may not be enough for some who feel the Church is moving too slowly in this direction. But we need to pray more and more to the Spirit to lead us into the way of all truth, that we will have the courage to let go of traditional practices, which no longer serve our witnessing to Jesus.

Rather then than seeing the Ascension just as the departure of Jesus, we should see it as the sending of the Church on mission (in place of Jesus). Rather than seeing the Church as an orphan as a result of the Ascension of Jesus it needs to be seen as being given adult status by God, as being given responsibility to witness to Jesus Christ through the power of his Spirit.

And as St. Paul tells us there is a variety of gifts that is a variety of ways of being Church, be it as laity, priests or religious. No one group is called to dominate the others since we are all brothers and sisters of our one heavenly Father who uses each of us in different ways. If we want to compete with each other let it be in the area of service to the poor, forgiveness of our enemies, love of all God’s children no matter what unfortunate labels they are given such as – those with AIDS, prostitutes, homosexuals, alcoholics, drug addicts, divorced people etc.

‘Lord Jesus, we believe that you have ascended to be with your Father and that the real meaning of today’s feast is that each of us has been given adult status in your Church to be your witnesses throughout the world. Give us your powerful Holy Spirit to enable us to be effective witnesses of your loving concern for all’. Amen.

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

13 May 2012

Acts 10.25-26, 34-35, 44-48
1 John 4.7-10
John 15:9-17

A young man got married and he asked his wife if they could go, as part of their honeymoon, to a certain country where his best friend lived as he wanted her to meet him. On meeting the friend he introduced him to his wife with the words: “Here is the man you need to thank for my being alive today. He is what I call a true friend.”

Apparently when they were in high school together the young married man found out that he had had a very severe kidney complaint, with both kidneys in a very serious condition. Even though he had been good friends always with the other young man, he realized then what it was to have a true friend. His friend, on hearing of his possible death due to his serious kidney condition offered him one of his own kidneys. Luckily the kidneys matched and the gift of the kidney saved his life. I suppose not everyone would risk his own life to do this.

In the gospel today Jesus says to his disciples that ‘a man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends’ which he himself did in giving his life on the cross. He assures them that in the gospel he wants to call them, and us too, his friends. His relationship with them and us is not to be that of a servant. A servant is someone who does what his master commands as an obligation or because he is paid to do so. Jesus is emphasizing that his relationship with us is to be that of true friendship.

Then in today’s gospel passage he spells out clearly what that is to be.

He names a number of consequences of his friendship with us:
a) As the Father loves Jesus, so Jesus himself loves us.
b) He invites us to keep the commandments so that his joy will be in us and that our joy may be complete. This is not to be seen as an ethical or a moral command but rather as love in action. It is a friend telling us the secret of how we can be joyful.
c) He is prepared to lay down his life for us
d) He makes known to us all that he has received from his Father. Jesus has no secrets. He keeps nothing back. There is no hidden agenda. What a marvelous programme for marriage and community life.
e) He chooses us even though he gains little or nothing if we don’t respond. He gives his all.
f) He invites us to share in his work by commissioning us for this. He is the one who chooses us.

Above all he invites us to love because God is Love (first reading). We are to love him first and then others. If we open ourselves to his friendship he will give us anything we ask. If we don’t, he won’t be able to do this because we set all kinds of obstacles in the way. If we truly love Jesus we will know what to ask the Father as we would never think of asking anything contrary to God’s will for us and for others.

In each gospel, Jesus never starts calling people in large groups. In John’s Gospel, he calls Andrew and a friend. Andrew goes and calls Peter his brother. Later in that first chapter of John he calls Phillip and Phillip goes off and calls Nathanael. So the process seems to be: Jesus calls friends who, in turn call other friends. This is to underline the absolute call to friendship as part of discipleship. In Mark 1, Jesus calls 2 sets of brothers. Obviously they are not only brothers but friends and close to each other. Again, this is to underline the importance of friendship.

Would you and I describe our relationship with Jesus as one of close friendship? If not, why not? Why not ask him often for the gift of a deep friendship with him. That is what he longs for. We will certainly be the ones to benefit.

So in the gospel today Jesus is emphasizing friendship, love and joy. How much does our spirituality reflect this? In many ways maybe we are better as a Lenten people than an Easter people.

We have the Stations of the Cross but no Stations of Joy, a sacrament for confessing our sins and failures but no special sacrament for expressing our joy and gratitude to God, unless we name it Eucharist. And yet the main thrust of the Christ story is of Tragedy averted, Sadness overcome, Victory achieved.

One of the great experiences for me when in Africa was the marvelous spirit of celebration in our Christian liturgies, often taking 2 hours. Elsewhere one hears people hoping the priest will celebrate a ‘fast mass’ on Sundays. Is this because we cannot spare more time for God? So today God is inviting us to rid ourselves of a religion of sadness and fear. We have created God in our own image – we expected a judge, an avenger, even an executioner. Instead a child was born for us. And a baby who was is stretching out his arms asking for love and friendship. And eventually as a grown man he was crucified.

‘Lord, why is it that many people experience your message so little as joyful news. Open up our hearts Lord to your call to friendship, sharing, joy, love. Help us to be convinced of this GOOD NEWS first in ourselves and then to invite others to the feast of your friendship and love. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

5 May 2012

Acts 9:26-31
1 John 3:18-24
John 15:1-8 

A certain young man in his twenties had got into bad company. Soon he was drinking heavily and sometimes took drugs. He was warned once at his workplace that if his work did not begin to improve soon, he would be made redundant. In fact, his life was in a mess. About this time he met a young woman to whom he was attracted and he invited her for a meal. Very quickly she realized what was going on in his life as they shared their experiences. When he asked her out again she told him bluntly she didn’t see why she should go given his lifestyle. But she decided to accept provided he showed signs of change. After the second time out together he knew she might be the one he was looking for. As they became closer friends she told him clearly that unless he gave up drugs and heavy drinking she would end their friendship. Bit by bit he did change and they are now engaged. It was his relationship with her and her understanding that ultimately bore fruit. However, it was a process which took time.

Today’s gospel is also about relationships, communion and friendship. Just as without the help of his girlfriend the young man might have had a disastrous life, Jesus is telling us that even more so, we will not have the deep joy and peace we seek unless we are in a deep personal relationship with him and his Father. We will not be true disciples of Jesus if we remain far from him and don’t have his value system. Sadly, many Christians think that their religion is about keeping the commandments and if they do more good than bad in life they will go to heaven. For sure we have commandments and laws to guide us but ultimately Christianity is a Person, Jesus Christ and our relationship with him. Then the commandments will take their proper place. I can go to Mass on Sunday, say some prayers and do some good works which are very good actions. But I can miss out on the essential fact of Christianity, my relationship to Jesus, the Father, the Spirit and to my fellow human beings. Laws in themselves don’t give life.

We know deep down that life is about people, and people are about relationships, and relationships are about communication, sharing, forgiveness, all of which result in real love and friendship. Sometimes people who are lonely, or when they are old seek for something or someone to relate too. We may know people who live alone and who only have a cat or dog for company. But their need for a relationship of some kind is vital for them.

In the Christian life solidarity or a deep relationship with Jesus is the condition for bearing fruit. In the Old Testament, the part of the bible before the time of Jesus, there are a number of times when Israel is described as the vine planted by Yahweh. Sadly it often bore sour grapes because it had cut itself off from Yahweh. It did this by following false gods, worshipping idols of the surrounding peoples. Because it had abandoned Yahweh it got into all kinds of trouble. Eventually the Israelites were exiled for 70 years.

When we as Christians turn aside from worshipping God we naturally seek other gods to replace him. These maybe the gods of pleasure, money, status, drugs, sex or drink etc in a way that these are given a far too great importance in our lives. Usually at this stage we feel we don’t need God. Our own natural abilities will see us through whatever comes up in life. Yet Jesus today says very clearly, using the image of the vine that ‘cut off from him, we can do nothing’. The choice is ours. We can allow God to rule our lives or we feel we don’t need God. If we are trying to be faithful to God, he will prune or purify us in the sense that he will reveal to us what is not life-giving in our lives for ourselves and for those we relate to.

The image of the vine sketches a series of relationships of love which is the bond uniting the Father, Son and the disciples with each other. The key relationship is between Jesus and the disciples.

There is another beautiful image in today’s gospel, that of the ‘home’. Jesus says ‘make your home in me, as I make mine in you’. Isn’t he great to want to do this? Recently a friend was invited out to a business dinner by people he didn’t know too well. Obviously, he dressed fairly formally. He said at the meal because he didn’t know them well, the conversation was very polite and they were all a bit reserved. Then when he got home, he immediately changed into more comfortable clothes and slippers. He relaxed in an easy chair and chatted with his wife and family without having to watch his words. He was ‘at home’, he could relax and be himself. That is the kind of relationship Jesus is inviting to. He wants us to relax in his presence. When we pray we can tell him exactly how we feel or share our problems honestly knowing he will hear us with great love and compassion. We don’t need to put on any airs or graces. We can be ‘at home’ with him as he invites us to be.

‘Lord Jesus, thank you for inviting us into a close relationship, a deep friendship with you. Help us to realize that only you can fulfill our deepest needs. May we express our gratitude to you by the way we reach out to all others, especially those in greatest need of our help and compassion. Amen’

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

29 April 2012

Acts 4:8-12
1 John 3:1-2
John 10:11-18

Some time ago I was at a wedding and at the meal afterwards, there was a couple, a man and a woman across the table from me. They were both about 40 and they seemed to be quite friendly with each other and when we started talking about various things I remarked that they seemed very good friends. At that they laughed and said. We are indeed, we have been married for 16 years and we really enjoy being married. There was something delightful about their relationship, the way they had such familiarity and mutual understanding.

The gospel today is about that. Using a scene very typical of the life of the people Jesus compares himself to the Good Shepherd, the one who really knows his sheep. He cares for them with great gentleness. He has a great familiarity with them. When I worked in Africa, as an effort to generate funds for our community we started raising sheep and we employed a worker to look after them. He was more than a hired man. He genuinely cared for the sheep. Once he was on vacation for some weeks, and when he came back, he remarked immediately that one or two of the sheep had got wounded. We had hired another man to look after the sheep during the other’s vacation but he never noticed anything wrong. It was quite clear to me that the relationship of the two men with the sheep was very different.

Today Jesus is telling us very simply what kind of relationship he has with the Father and the type of relationship he wants with us. Like the couple in the story he wants an easy familiarity with us. We don’t deny that Jesus is God but it would be sad if we used that as an excuse to avoid the deep friendship with us that he desires so much. If we were honest, where would we put our relationship with Jesus? Would it be high up the list of our relationships / or maybe not.

Once a friend of mine was on a long distance flight and he remarked how friendly the air hostesses were and seemed genuinely concerned for the passengers. As they left the plane the passengers were wished a good time by the hostesses. Ten minutes later my friend happened to greet the same hostesses as they left the plane and they just ignored him. He felt that all their care for the passengers was just part of the job they were given to do but once the job was finished, that ended their concern. Jesus leaves us in no doubt that he is not a hired workman, we know he did give his life for his sheep, reflecting the care, concern and love God our Father has for us.

I suppose just as Jesus, the Good Shepherd on earth mirrors God the Good Shepherd, where have we experienced modern-day good shepherds ourselves – dedicated, loyal, caring people. Maybe parents who spend time with their families, teachers who bring the best out of their pupils, nurses, doctors, who do a little bit extra for their patients, especially when you are vulnerable to show that you are special. These people are so good they wouldn’t do it any other way. They genuinely care for others, far beyond the call of duty.

A priest tells the story of being at the scene of a particularly bad accident. A young motor cyclist had had a horrific smash. It was 3 o’clock in the morning and a nurse on her way home from a dance stopped to help. She knelt in the dirt and the blood and her best efforts at mouth to mouth resuscitation were in vain. Finally she cradled the young lad’s head in her arms and cried and prayed. Her beautiful dress was ruined. The priest said it was a scene he would never forget. For him she was:

–          A good nurse

–          A Good Shepherd

–          A Christ figure.

We all know people like these. People who keep alive the work and example of Jesus the Good Shepherd today, often in very difficult circumstances and not always appreciated.

Today is often referred to as Vocation Sunday. Let us pray not only for vocations to the priesthood and the religious life and for the vocation of the laity, but that above all whatever our calling is, we would show that the example of Jesus the Good Shepherd was not in vain.

“Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, help us with the help of the Holy Spirit to be Good Shepherds to each other. Amen”

Fr. Jim Kirstein, SMA

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