Parish of Our Lady & Saint David, Cwmbran

You cannot be the slave both of God and money

How easy to take the words of Jesus out of context: “Use money to win you friends,” is one of those lines that sounds strange to us outside the context of the parable and the teaching in today’s Gospel. Even the parable itself can seem a little strange – is Jesus really recommending that we act like dishonest stewards? No, of course not! The point that reveals this is hidden half way down: “The children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind…” Jesus in a way praises the effort of the dishonest steward, but wishes that it was directed less to worldly things, but to the things of heaven. And this is the message that we are to take: where do we direct our energies – to making money, fame, fortune and success, or to finding “friends in heaven”?

First Reading: Amos 8:4-7

Res: Praise the Lord, who raises the poor

Second Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-8

There will be rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner.

The message of God’s forgiveness is one that we are familiar with, but which the Lord still wishes to emphasise. Our human approach to forgiveness is so often flawed – we hold grudges, erect barriers, make demands and establish conditions. Jesus wants to remind his listeners – and us – that God’s forgiveness is overflowing and bountiful. Saint Paul was well aware of this: he had persecuted the Church, calling himself “the greatest of sinners”; and yet, thanks to the “inexhaustible patience” of God, he can count himself a believer. We must be open to the gift of forgiveness for ourselves, and also (as the Parable of the Elder Brother shows) open to that forgiveness offered to other whom we would condemn.

None of you can be my disciple unless he gives up all his possessions.

This is a very difficult set of readings. The Gospel itself starts with a saying which many find hard to understand: must we really “hate” our family to be the Lord’s disciples? The point is that it is relative: what are we prepared to give up for the Gospel? Are we going to try and make our own cross, or accept whatever we are given? Jesus is probably trying to discourage the crowd of sensation seekers and hangers-on who are crowing round him. He wants real disciples, who are aware of the possible cost: not like the incompetent builder, or the useless king. To be a disciple, one must be prepared to follow Jesus anywhere, whatever it might cost in possessions, family or friends. We may never understand why, but then, “who can know the intentions of God?”

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.

The Word This Week

Humble behaviour is the mark of the Christian, as it always was the mark of someone “in favour with the Lord.” In the Gospel, we see Jesus watching the Pharisees: it’s almost amusing to picture them shuffling for the best places, the polite “After you!” to put themselves in a better position. How would they have reacted to his teaching? They may well have remembered the passage we read from the Old Testament, and realised that Jesus was teaching the teachers something they should be well aware of.

Men from east and west will come to take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.

The Word This Week

It’s probably a nightmare we all share to some degree or other – being locked out of the house, the sales, the big match, or missing the train, the boat or plane. Contemplating watching the crowds that have got inside, while we can do nothing, can be unnerving. Complacency can leave us in this situation: today the Lord warns all who listen to him to be careful, taking nothing for granted, but making sure that we are (spiritually at least) like the people waiting with their sleeping bags and thermos flasks by the front door of the ticket office.

I am not here to bring peace, but rather division.

The Word This Week

When we consider the Christian life, we often think in positive terms: peace, light, joy, goodness, life. And yet, as the Scriptures remind us today, that Christian life must be lived in the midst of a world which is filled with more negative terms: division, distress, cruelty and death. The words of the Gospel may appear shocking to us: Jesus says that he comes to bring “division, not peace”, and this seems totally contrary to the message of the Gospel! And yet, Jesus is not announcing his desire – of course he wants peace, not division – but showing his understanding of the world in which we live. He is inviting us to weigh up the cost of the Kingdom, a cost he was willing to embrace: as the second reading tells us: “… Jesus, for the sake of the joy which was still in the future, endured the cross…” Whatever weighs us down, let us endure and persevere, so that the fire of God’s love may blaze over the whole earth!

You too must stand ready.

The Word This Week

Vigilance: we wait for glory or ruin, salvation or disaster. This is the choice that faces the Christian each and every day, as we wait for the Lord to return, as he promised he would. We often live our lives leaving such things to a distant, shadowy future – like the person who is going to fix that faulty lock or window-frame, but in the end doesn’t get round to it before the burglar comes. The lamps of our lives should be lit and shining, filled to the brim with the oil of prayer and charity, singing the hymns of the fathers as we wait for the Master to return.

This hoard of yours, whose will it be?

The Word This Week

Today we contemplate a great truth about our life: you can’t take it with you. The old phrase “There are no pockets in a shroud” is what we confront today, in the preaching of both Ecclesiastes and the Lord Jesus. What Jesus makes us think about, however, is not just this truth, but the consequences of it: if we are not to build up treasure here on earth, what are we to do? The answer is simple: by our way of living we “make ourselves rich in the sight of God”!

First Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23

Responsorial Psalm: O Lord, you have been our refuge from generation to the next                     

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-5. 9-11

Gospel: Luke 

Ask, and it will be given to you.

The Word This Week

When we see the child in the sweet shop nagging and moaning at mum or dad for something, we probably don’t think of it as a model of our prayer lives! And yet, if we take the word of God seriously today, that is exactly what out faith teaches us to do! The message is persistence – never giving up, even if prayers do not seem to be answered. We shouldn’t ask why they are not answered on the spot (God’s probably got a reason), but should just continue beating on the door of heaven in faith and hope.

First Reading:   Genesis 18: 20-32

Responsorial Psalm: On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord

Second Reading: Colossians 2: 12-14

Gospel: Luke 11: 1-13

Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. Mary has chosen the better part.

The Word This Week

Sacred Hospitality is our theme: as the letter to the Hebrews says: “remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” True hospitality lies in two things: first the welcome, encouraging the stranger to enter the house and be at home there: secondly, the gift – not just of food or drink, but of time: listening to the stranger, and giving of ourselves to them. This is what makes hospitality costly, but holy, and a true service of Jesus Christ.

First Reading:              Genesis 18: 1-10

Second Reading:         Colossians 1: 24-28

Gospel:                            Luke 10: 38-42