PASTOR'S DAY 2024

                                             LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

TO PRIESTS
On the Anniversary of the Death
of the HOLY CURÉ OF ARS, ST JOHN VIANNEY

 

To my Brother Priests
Dear Brothers,

A hundred and sixty years have passed since the death of the holy Curé of Ars, whom

Pope Pius XI proposed as the patron of parish priests throughout the world.[1] On this, his feast day, I write this letter not only to parish priests but to all of you, my brother priests, who have quietly “left all behind” in order to immerse yourselves in the daily life of your communities. Like the Curé of Ars, you serve “in the trenches”, bearing the burden of the day and the heat (cf. Mt 20:12), confronting an endless variety of situations in your effort to care for and accompany God’s people. I want to say a word to each of you who, often without fanfare and at personal cost, amid weariness, infirmity and sorrow, carry out your mission of service to God and to your people. Despite the hardships of the journey, you are writing the finest pages of the priestly life. Some time ago, I shared with the Italian bishops my worry that, in more than a few places, our priests feel themselves attacked and blamed for crimes they did not commit. I mentioned that priests need to find in their bishop an older brother and a father who reassures them in these difficult times, encouraging and supporting them along the way.

As an older brother and a father, I too would like in this letter to thank you in the name of the holy and faithful People of God for all that you do for them, and to encourage you never to forget the words that the Lord spoke with great love to us on the day of our ordination. Those words are the source of our joy: “I no longer call you servants… I call you friends” (Jn 15:15).

PAIN

“I have seen the suffering of my people” (Ex 3:7)

In these years, we have become more attentive to the cry, often silent and suppressed, of our brothers and sisters who were victims of the abuse of power, the abuse of conscience and sexual abuse on the part of ordained ministers. This has been a time of great suffering in the lives of those who experienced such abuse, but also in the lives of their families and of the entire People of God.

As you know, we are firmly committed to carrying out the reforms needed to encourage from the outset a culture of pastoral care, so that the culture of abuse will have no room to develop, much less continue. This task is neither quick nor easy: it demands commitment on the part of all. If in the past, omission may itself have been a kind of response, today we desire conversion, transparency, sincerity and solidarity with victims to become our concrete way of moving forward. This in turn will help make us all the more attentive to every form of human suffering.[4]

This pain has also affected priests. I have seen it in the course of my pastoral visits in my own diocese and elsewhere, in my meetings and personal conversations with priests. Many have shared with me their outrage at what happened and their frustration that “for all their hard work, they have to face the damage that was done, the suspicion and uncertainty to which it has given rise, and the doubts, fears and disheartenment felt by more than a few”.[5] I have received many letters from priests expressing those feelings. At the same time, I am comforted by my meetings with pastors who recognize and share the pain and suffering of the victims and of the People of God, and have tried to find words and actions capable of inspiring hope.

Without denying or dismissing the harm caused by some of our brothers, it would be unfair not to express our gratitude to all those priests who faithfully and generously spend their lives in the service of others (cf. 2 Cor 12:15). They embody a spiritual fatherhood capable of weeping with those who weep. Countless priests make of their lives a work of mercy in areas or situations that are often hostile, isolated or ignored, even at the risk of their lives. I acknowledge and appreciate your courageous and steadfast example; in these times of turbulence, shame and pain, you demonstrate that you have joyfully put your lives on the line for the sake of the Gospel.[6]

I am convinced that, to the extent that we remain faithful to God’s will, these present times of ecclesial purification will make us more joyful and humble, and prove, in the not distant future, very fruitful. “Let us not grow discouraged! The Lord is purifying his Bride and converting all of us to himself. He is letting us be put to the test in order to make us realize that without him we are simply dust. He is rescuing us from hypocrisy, from the spirituality of appearances. He is breathing forth his Spirit in order to restore the beauty of his Bride, caught in adultery. We can benefit from rereading the sixteenth chapter of Ezekiel. It is the history of the Church, and each of us can say it is our history too. In the end, through your sense of shame, you will continue to act as a shepherd. Our humble repentance, expressed in silent tears before these atrocious sins and the unfathomable grandeur of God’s forgiveness, is the beginning of a renewal of our holiness”.[7]

GRATITUDE

“I do not cease to give thanks for you” (Eph 1:16).

Vocation, more than our own choice, is a response to the Lord’s unmerited call. We do well to return constantly to those passages of the Gospel where we see Jesus praying, choosing and calling others “to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message” (Mk 3:14).

Here I think of a great master of the priestly life in my own country, Father Lucio Gera. Speaking to a group of priests at a turbulent time in Latin America, he told them: “Always, but especially in times of trial, we need to return to those luminous moments when we experienced the Lord’s call to devote our lives to his service”. I myself like to call this “the deuteronomic memory of our vocation”; it makes each of us go back “to that blazing light with which God’s grace touched me at the start of the journey. From that flame, I can light a fire for today and every day, and bring heat and light to my brothers and sisters. That flame ignites a humble joy, a joy which sorrow and distress cannot dismay, a good and gentle joy”.[8]

One day, each of us spoke up and said “yes”, a “yes” born and developed in the heart of the Christian community thanks to those “saints next door”[9] who showed us by their simple faith that it was worthwhile committing ourselves completely to the Lord and his kingdom. A “yes” whose implications were so momentous that often we find it hard to imagine all the goodness that it continues to produce. How beautiful it is when an elderly priest sees or is visited by those children – now adults – whom he baptized long ago and who now gratefully introduce a family of their own! At times like this, we realize that we were anointed to anoint others, and that God’s anointing never disappoints. I am led to say with the Apostle: “I do not cease to give thanks for you” (cf. Eph 1:16) and for all the good that you have done.

Amid trials, weakness and the consciousness of our limitations, “the worst temptation of all is to keep brooding over our troubles”[10] for then we lose our perspective, our good judgement and our courage. At those times, it is important – I would even say crucial – to cherish the memory of the Lord’s presence in our lives and his merciful gaze, which inspired us to put our lives on the line for him and for his People. And to find the strength to persevere and, with the Psalmist, to raise our own song of praise, “for his mercy endures forever” (Ps 136).

Gratitude is always a powerful weapon. Only if we are able to contemplate and feel genuine gratitude for all those ways we have experienced God’s love, generosity, solidarity and trust, as well as his forgiveness, patience, forbearance and compassion, will we allow the Spirit to grant us the freshness that can renew (and not simply patch up) our life and mission. Like Peter on the morning of the miraculous draught of fishes, may we let the recognition of all the blessings we have received awaken in us the amazement and gratitude that can enable us to say: “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8). Only then to hear the Lord repeat his summons: “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be fishers of men” (Lk 5:10). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Dear brother priests, I thank you for your fidelity to the commitments you have made. It is a sign that, in a society and culture that glorifies the ephemeral, there are still people unafraid to make lifelong promises. In effect, we show that we continue to believe in God, who has never broken his covenant, despite our having broken it countless times. In this way, we celebrate the fidelity of God, who continues to trust us, to believe in us and to count on us, for all our sins and failings, and who invites us to be faithful in turn. Realizing that we hold this treasure in earthen vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4:7), we know that the Lord triumphs through weakness (cf. 2 Cor 12:9). He continues to sustain us and to renew his call, repaying us a hundredfold (cf. Mk 10:29-30). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for the joy with which you have offered your lives, revealing a heart that over the years has refused to become closed and bitter, but has grown daily in love for God and his people. A heart that, like good wine, has not turned sour but become richer with age. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for working to strengthen the bonds of fraternity and friendship with your brother priests and your bishop, providing one another with support and encouragement, caring for those who are ill, seeking out those who keep apart, visiting the elderly and drawing from their wisdom, sharing with one another and learning to laugh and cry together. How much we need this! But thank you too for your faithfulness and perseverance in undertaking difficult missions, or for those times when you have had to call a brother priest to order. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for your witness of persistence and patient endurance (hypomoné) in pastoral ministry. Often, with the parrhesía of the shepherd,[11] we find ourselves arguing with the Lord in prayer, as Moses did in courageously interceding for the people (cf. Num 14:13-19; Ex 32:30-32; Dt 9:18-21). “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for celebrating the Eucharist each day and for being merciful shepherds in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, neither rigorous nor lax, but deeply concerned for your people and accompanying them on their journey of conversion to the new life that the Lord bestows on us all. We know that on the ladder of mercy we can descend to the depths of our human condition – including weakness and sin – and at the same time experience the heights of divine perfection: “Be merciful as the Father is merciful”.[12] In this way, we are “capable of warming people’s hearts, walking at their side in the dark, talking with them and even entering into their night and their darkness, without losing our way”.[13] “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for anointing and fervently proclaiming to all, “in season and out of season” (cf. 2 Tim 4:2) the Gospel of Jesus Christ, probing the heart of your community “in order to discover where its desire for God is alive and ardent, as well as where that dialogue, once loving, has been thwarted and is now barren”.[14] “For his mercy endures forever”.

Thank you for the times when, with great emotion, you embraced sinners, healed wounds, warmed hearts and showed the tenderness and compassion of the Good Samaritan (cf. Lk 10:25-27). Nothing is more necessary than this: accessibility, closeness, readiness to draw near to the flesh of our suffering brothers and sisters. How powerful is the example of a priest who makes himself present and does not flee the wounds of his brothers and sisters![15] It mirrors the heart of a shepherd who has developed a spiritual taste for being one with his people,[16] a pastor who never forgets that he has come from them and that by serving them he will find and express his most pure and complete identity. This in turn will lead to adopting a simple and austere way of life, rejecting privileges that have nothing to do with the Gospel. “For his mercy endures forever”.

Finally, let us give thanks for the holiness of the faithful People of God, whom we are called to shepherd and through whom the Lord also shepherds and cares for us. He blesses us with the gift of contemplating that faithful People “in those parents who raise their children with immense love, in those men and women who work hard to support their families, in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile. In their daily perseverance, I see the holiness of the Church militant”.[17] Let us be grateful for each of them, and in their witness find support and encouragement. “For his mercy endures forever”.

ENCOURAGEMENT

“I want [your] hearts to be encouraged” (Col 2:2)

My second great desire is, in the words of Saint Paul, to offer encouragement as we strive to renew our priestly spirit, which is above all the fruit of the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Faced with painful experiences, all of us need to be comforted and encouraged. The mission to which we are called does not exempt us from suffering, pain and even misunderstanding.[18] Rather, it requires us to face them squarely and to accept them, so that the Lord can transform them and conform us more closely to himself. “Ultimately, the lack of a heartfelt and prayerful acknowledgment of our limitations prevents grace from working more effectively within us, for no room is left for bringing about the potential good that is part of a sincere and genuine journey of growth”.[19]

One good way of testing our hearts as pastors is to ask how we confront suffering. We can often act like the levite or the priest in the parable, stepping aside and ignoring the injured man (cf. Lk 10:31-32). Or we can draw near in the wrong way, viewing situations in the abstract and taking refuge in commonplaces, such as: “That’s life…”, or “Nothing can be done”. In this way, we yield to an uneasy fatalism. Or else we can draw near with a kind of aloofness that brings only isolation and exclusion. “Like the prophet Jonah, we are constantly tempted to flee to a safe haven. It can have many names: individualism, spiritualism, living in a little world…”[20] Far from making us compassionate, this ends up holding us back from confronting our own wounds, the wounds of others and consequently the wounds of Jesus himself.[21]

Along these same lines, I would mention another subtle and dangerous attitude, which, as Bernanos liked to say, is “the most precious of the devil's potions”.[22] It is also the most harmful for those of us who would serve the Lord, for it breeds discouragement, desolation and despair.[23] Disappointment with life, with the Church or with ourselves can tempt us to latch onto a sweet sorrow or sadness that the Eastern Fathers called acedia. Cardinal Tomáš Špidlík described it in these terms: “If we are assailed by sadness at life, at the company of others or at our own isolation, it is because we lack faith in God’s providence and his works… Sadness paralyzes our desire to persevere in our work and prayer; it makes us hard to live with… The monastic authors who treated this vice at length call it the worst enemy of the spiritual life.”[24]

All of us are aware of a sadness that can turn into a habit and lead us slowly to accept evil and injustice by quietly telling us: “It has always been like this”. A sadness that stifles every effort at change and conversion by sowing resentment and hostility. “That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life; it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life of the Spirit, which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ”[25], to which we have been called. Dear brothers, when that sweet sorrow threatens to take hold of our lives or our communities, without being fearful or troubled, yet with firm resolution, let us together beg the Spirit to “rouse us from our torpor, to free us from our inertia. Let us rethink our usual way of doing things; let us open our eyes and ears, and above all our hearts, so as not to be complacent about things as they are, but unsettled by the living and effective word of the risen Lord”.[26]

Let me repeat: in times of difficulty, we all need God’s consolation and strength, as well as that of our brothers and sisters. All of us can benefit from the touching words that Saint Paul addressed to his communities: “I pray that you may not lose heart over [my] sufferings” (Eph 3:13), and “I want [your] hearts to be encouraged” (Col 2:22). In this way, we can carry out the mission that the Lord gives us anew each day: to proclaim “good news of great joy for all the people” (Lk 2:10). Not by presenting intellectual theories or moral axioms about the way things ought to be, but as men who in the midst of pain have been transformed and transfigured by the Lord and, like Job, can exclaim: “I knew you then only by hearsay, but now I have seen you with my own eyes” (Job 42:2). Without this foundational experience, all of our hard work will only lead to frustration and disappointment.

In our own lives, we have seen how “with Christ, joy is constantly born anew”.[27] Although there are different stages in this experience, we know that, despite our frailties and sins, “with a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always capable of restoring our joy, God makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and start anew”.[28] That joy is not the fruit of our own thoughts or decisions, but of the confidence born of knowing the enduring truth of Jesus’ words to Peter. At times of uncertainty, remember those words: “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail” (Lk 22:32). The Lord is the first to pray and fight for you and for me. And he invites us to enter fully into his own prayer. There may well be moments when we too have to enter into “the prayer of Gethsemane, that most human and dramatic of Jesus’ prayers… For there we find supplication, sorrow, anguish and even bewilderment (Mk 14:33ff.)”.[29]

We know that it is not easy to stand before the Lord and let his gaze examine our lives, heal our wounded hearts and cleanse our feet of the worldliness accumulated along the way, which now keeps us from moving forward. In prayer, we experience the blessed “insecurity” which reminds us that we are disciples in need of the Lord’s help, and which frees us from the promethean tendency of “those who ultimately trust only in their own powers and feel superior to others because they observe certain rules”.[30]

Dear brothers, Jesus, more than anyone, is aware of our efforts and our accomplishments, our failures and our mistakes. He is the first to tell us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Mt 11:28-29).

In this prayer, we know that we are never alone. The prayer of a pastor embraces both the Spirit who cries out “Abba, Father!” (cf. Gal 4:6), and the people who have been entrusted to his care. Our mission and identity can be defined by this dialectic.

The prayer of a pastor is nourished and made incarnate in the heart of God’s People. It bears the marks of the sufferings and joys of his people, whom he silently presents to the Lord to be anointed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the hope of a pastor, who with trust and insistence asks the Lord to care for our weakness as individuals and as a people. Yet we should also realize that it is in the prayer of God’s People that the heart of a pastor takes flesh and finds its proper place. This sets us free from looking for quick, easy, ready-made answers; it allows the Lord to be the one – not our own recipes and goals – to point out a path of hope. Let us not forget that at the most difficult times in the life of the earliest community, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles, prayer emerged as the true guiding force.

Brothers, let us indeed acknowledge our weaknesses, but also let Jesus transform them and send us forth anew to the mission. Let us never lose the joy of knowing that we are “the sheep of his flock” and that he is our Lord and Shepherd.

For our hearts to be encouraged, we should not neglect the dialectic that determines our identity. First, our relationship with Jesus. Whenever we turn away from Jesus or neglect our relationship with him, slowly but surely our commitment begins to fade and our lamps lose the oil needed to light up our lives (cf. Mt 25:1-13): “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me… because apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:4-5). In this regard, I would encourage you not to neglect spiritual direction. Look for a brother with whom you can speak, reflect, discuss and discern, sharing with complete trust and openness your journey. A wise brother with whom to share the experience of discipleship. Find him, meet with him and enjoy his guidance, accompaniment and counsel. This is an indispensable aid to carrying out your ministry in obedience to the will of the Father (cf. Heb 10:9) and letting your heart beat with “the mind that was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). We can profit from the words of Ecclesiastes: “Two are better than one… One will lift up the other; but woe to the one who is alone and falls, and does not have another to help!” (4:9-10).

The other essential aspect of this dialectic is our relationship to our people. Foster that relationship and expand it. Do not withdraw from your people, your presbyterates and your communities, much less seek refuge in closed and elitist groups. Ultimately, this stifles and poisons the soul. A minister whose “heart is encouraged” is a minister always on the move. In our “going forth”, we walk “sometimes in front, sometimes in the middle and sometimes behind: in front, in order to guide the community; in the middle, in order to encourage and support, and at the back in order to keep it united, so that no one lags too far behind… There is another reason too: because our people have a “nose” for things. They sniff out, discover, new paths to take; they have the sensus fidei (cf. Lumen Gentium, 12)… What could be more beautiful than this?”[31] Jesus himself is the model of this evangelizing option that leads us to the heart of our people. How good it is for us to see him in his attention to every person! The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is nothing else but the culmination of that evangelizing style that marked his entire life.

Dear brother priests, the pain of so many victims, the pain of the people of God and our own personal pain, cannot be for naught. Jesus himself has brought this heavy burden to his cross and he now asks us to be renewed in our mission of drawing near to those who suffer, of drawing near without embarrassment to human misery, and indeed to make all these experiences our own, as eucharist.[32] Our age, marked by old and new wounds, requires us to be builders of relationships and communion, open, trusting and awaiting in hope the newness that the kingdom of God wishes to bring about even today. For it is a kingdom of forgiven sinners called to bear witness to the Lord’s ever-present compassion. “For his mercy endures forever”.

PRAISE

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord” (Lk 1:46)

How can we speak about gratitude and encouragement without looking to Mary? She, the woman whose heart was pierced (cf. Lk 2:35), teaches us the praise capable of lifting our gaze to the future and restoring hope to the present. Her entire life was contained in her song of praise (cf. Lk 1:46-55). We too are called to sing that song as a promise of future fulfilment.

Whenever I visit a Marian shrine, I like to spend time looking at the Blessed Mother and letting her look at me. I pray for a childlike trust, the trust of the poor and simple who know that their mother is there, and that they have a place in her heart. And in looking at her, to hear once more, like the Indian Juan Diego: “My youngest son, what is the matter? Do not let it disturb your heart. Am I not here, I who have the honour to be your mother?”[33]

To contemplate Mary is “to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. In her, we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong, who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves”.[34]

Perhaps at times our gaze can begin to harden, or we can feel that the seductive power of apathy or self-pity is about to take root in our heart. Or our sense of being a living and integral part of God’s People begins to weary us, and we feel tempted to a certain elitism. At those times, let us not be afraid to turn to Mary and to take up her song of praise.

Perhaps at times we can feel tempted to withdraw into ourselves and our own affairs, safe from the dusty paths of daily life. Or regrets, complaints, criticism and sarcasm gain the upper hand and make us lose our desire to keep fighting, hoping and loving. At those times, let us look to Mary so that she can free our gaze of all the “clutter” that prevents us from being attentive and alert, and thus capable of seeing and celebrating Christ alive in the midst of his people. And if we see that we are going astray, or that we are failing in our attempts at conversion, then let us turn to her like a great parish priest from my previous diocese, who was also a poet. He asked her, with something of a smile: “This evening, dear Lady /my promise is sincere; /but just to be sure, don’t forget / to leave the key outside the door”.[35] Our Lady “is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain. As mother of all, she is a sign of hope for peoples suffering the birth pangs of justice… As a true mother, she walks at our side, she shares our struggles and she constantly surrounds us with God’s love”.[36]

Dear brothers, once more, “I do not cease to give thanks for you” (Eph 1:16), for your commitment and your ministry. For I am confident that “God takes away even the hardest stones against which our hopes and expectations crash: death, sin, fear, worldliness. Human history does not end before a tombstone, because today it encounters the “living stone” (cf. 1 Pet 2:4), the risen Jesus. We, as Church, are built on him, and, even when we grow disheartened and tempted to judge everything in the light of our failures, he comes to make all things new”.[37]

May we allow our gratitude to awaken praise and renewed enthusiasm for our ministry of anointing our brothers and sisters with hope. May we be men whose lives bear witness to the compassion and mercy that Jesus alone can bestow on us.

May the Lord Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin watch over you. And please, I ask you not to forget to pray for me.

Fraternally,

FRANCIS

Rome, at Saint John Lateran, on 4 August 2019,
Memorial of the Holy Curé of Ars

You provide the bread. Let God take care of the miracle by Fr Nelson Lobo OFM Cap

 WONDERING GURU

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 28 July 2024

(2 Kings 4: 42-44; Psalm 145; Eph 4:1-6; Jn 6: 1-5)

Introduction: Don Moen wrote a famous song, "God will make a way, where there seems to be no way" – and I think this could well sum up todays’ Gospel reading -"The Feeding of the 5,000". The feeding of the five thousand is the only miracle Jesus preformed that is recorded in all four Gospels. (Mat 14:13–21; Mk 6:31–44; Lk 9:12–17; Jn 6:1–14). Therefore, we can conclude that it was a very important occurrence. It occurred during the Passover season about one year before Christ’s death (John 6:4). Now here is the Christ, the Son of God. He is the one who had provided manna and water in the desert for the children of Israel (Ex 16:2-3 & Num 20:1-6). He is the one who provided when Elijah and the widow lacked food (1 Kings 17:1-8). He provided when Hezekiah lacked health (2 Kings 20:1), and when Job was sick with boils (Job 2:7). But you see the disciples still didn’t get it, Jesus assured them there was no need to send the crowd away. Why should the people leave when the One who opens His hand and supplies the desire of every living being is present? Jesus really catches the disciples off guard by saying, “You give them something to eat.” Can you imagine the look on the disciple’s faces; they must have been floored? “Give them something to eat? We have nothing but five loaves and two fish.” They however have forgotten, just like we do, they also had the Christ, Jesus the Son of God.

The miracle can be interpreted in Three different ways

1. Jesus might have continued to bless, and break, bless & break, and pass on to the disciples. But the real miracle would have been in the distribution of it, to feed over 5000 men.

2. Or it might have been that the miracle happened after the Lord blessed and broke and gave to the disciples. As they distributed it multiplied in their hands, so that everyone could eat.

3. Or it might have been that Jesus appealed to the hearts of the people. It would not have been unthinkable to believe that people traveling and gathering would have brought enough food for themselves, and that there was food available, but that no one was really sharing, but upon seeing the blessing of God, and the disciples sharing from the Lord, that they too, began to share with those around.

The miracle is a fact but we don’t have exact details as to how it all happened. The title feeding of the five thousand is misleading but Matthew tells us it was five thousand men plus women and children. For all we know if each man had a wife, and just one or two children the numbers could have been more like 10,000 or 15,000 or may be more.  

Spiritual Lessons for disciples of every generation:

·       The hungry are always around the corner.

·       There are always a few with pitiful resources trying to reach out to them.

·       There is the compassionate Savior.

Three Christian principles about the character of God in this story. 

§  We take our problems and concerns to God, knowing that He is in control. Our problems don’t go away, but we acknowledge that God can deal with them.

§  God uses our meagre resources in ways we may not understand. God will make a way, where there seems to be no way sang Don Moen.

§  When God acts, He supplies liberally. Even in the parable of the Sower and the seed, God is generous in sowing (blessing) the seed.

Conclusion: There will come a time in your life, when the problem seems so overwhelming, that we might respond to Jesus and say, look God, I’ve got this problem, and Jesus turns it around to use it as a faith lesson. A lesson of trusting in Him. Jesus waits for teachable moments.  As long as we live in this world, there will be things that will vie for our attention. Children, taxes, work, recreation, health, church. God has entrusted those things to us, and to live in balance and harmony with them. Jesus showed the proper perspective in taking time to get away, to refocus, before the demands of everyday life overwhelm us. When there is such a large task before us, it is important that we begin to set things in priority and have faith in the One who can make a way even when you think there is no way.  

 

WHY IS REST SO IMPORTANT? Fr Nelson Lobo OFM Cap

 

WONDERING GURU

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 21st July 2024

Jeremiah 23: 1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2: 13-18; Mark 6: 30-34

Introduction-Yoke Pictures Three Things:

1. Connection “Be with Me.” Yokes are made for two, not one. We were not meant to go through life living apart from God. His yoke fits well and is lighter than the one we’ve been pulling by ourselves. Be connected to Jesus!

2. Direction “Follow Me.” The idea of a yoke pictures the forward motion of two connected together. You cannot be yoked to Jesus and go your own way anymore. We follow Him and His direction for our life. Follow Jesus!

3. Cooperation “Work with Me.” To be yoked together means that we cooperate with His work. Before we come to Him, we were living for this side of eternity. Now we are joined to His work and discover that our lives make an eternal impact.

 

Reflection:

The story is told of a lady who became very angry at the pastor. When she finally caught up with him, she said, "I called you all morning at the church and dropped by to see you in the afternoon on Tuesday and you were not there." The minister said, "I’m sorry Madam, but Tuesday is my day off." "Your day off”, she said very self-righteously. "I’ll have you know that the devil never takes a day off". The minister replied, "you are absolutely right my dear, and I suppose that if I did the same thing, I would become just like him."

In the gospel reading today Jesus says “Come and rest a while”. We need to learn how to experience rest. If all we needed was physical rest, we can always take a nap. If we needed only emotional rest, we can always take a vacation. But where can we find spiritual rest? How can we obtain relief regarding the deepest issues of life at the deepest level of our hearts?

WHY IS REST SO IMPORTANT? 10 commandments of rest.

01) To calm our souls and wait on God- Warren Wiersbe wrote, “The ability to calm your soul and wait before God is one of the most difficult things in the Christian life. Our old nature is restless...the world around us is frantically in a hurry. But a restless heart usually leads to a reckless life.”

02) To listen to God- Often, we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life that we become deaf  to the voice of God. We become so busy doing things for Christ that we forget to simply be with Christ. Time away from our labors helps us to regain our perspective and realign our priorities. It helps us to remember what’s most important. It reminds us that the things of God are eternal, while the things of this life are temporary.

03) To remember God’s Covenant- In the Old Testament, the idea of rest was tied up in the divine concept of Sabbath. In Exodus 31:13-14 we read: "Tell the people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the Lord, who makes you holy”. Sabbath rest was required by God in order for His people to constantly remember who rescued them from Egypt and who it was that provided for them as they wandered the deserts for forty years. In other words, the Sabbath was given in order for Israel to rest, and in that rest, worship their God and Savior.

04) We must have free time to worship- We must plan our week so that we finish early enough to have that free time. It does take time to be holy.  Someone wrote: “…think of how successful Satan has been in hindering the worship of Christians in the 20th century. We are workaholics, and, in addition, worn out by the time demands of our day. It is no wonder that the quality of our worship is so shoddy.

05)   To experience the redemption rest, secured in Christ found in Zeph. 3:17: For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song."

06) To enjoy sinner’s rest found in Mat. 11:28: Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. What a magnificent blessing we receive when Christ becomes our Savior!

07) To understand apostles rest found in Mark 6:30: The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and what they had taught. Then Jesus said, "Let’s get away from the crowds for a while and rest."

08) To celebrate what is beautiful and sacred- In his book, SABBATH: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest, Wayne Mueller writes: Sabbath is more than just a day to catch up on television and errands. Rather it is time when we take our hand from the plow and let God and the earth care for things, while we drink, if only for a few moments, from the fountain of rest and delight.   In Sabbath time we remember to celebrate what is beautiful and sacred; we light candles, sing songs, tell stories, eat, nap and make love. ...we become available to the insights and blessings of deep mindfulness that arise only in stillness and time. When we act from a place of deep rest, we are more capable of cultivating right understanding, right action and right effort.

09) So that we don’t hurt others-We need rest just as we need air, water and food to survive. The fact is, when we fail to rest fully and deeply, we not only hurt ourselves, we run the risk of hurting others. Physical rest is every bit as important as emotional and spiritual and let us not underplay this reality.

10) To be more fit for work- According to a Greek legend, in ancient Athens the great storyteller Aesop said, “If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually; but if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.” People are also like that.

We need rest to learn compassion-A boy went into a pet shop to buy a puppy. He looked and looked. He told the owner that he would be back with the money to buy the puppy in a couple of weeks. During those weeks he worked so hard. Washing cars, mowing lawns, doing chores around the house. Finally, he had the money the next day he went back to the pet shop. He got out a puppy that was crippled he walked up to the storeowner. And handed him the money. When the owner saw the puppy he picked he told him to go pick another puppy because this puppy would never be able to play or run because it was crippled. The boy just smiled and said he was sure this is the puppy he wanted and that it was just the puppy for him. As the boy walked out the owner started to say something but remained silent. Suddenly he knew why the boy had picked that puppy for extending out of the boy’s trousers was a brace on his leg.

“Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you”. (Psalm 116:7)

 

 

 

Five Principles of Evangelization by Fr Nelson Lobo OFM Cap

 

WONDERING GURU

15^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Amos 7: 12-15; Psalm 85; Ephesians 1: 3-14; Mark 6: 7-13)

1. Begin small-"Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. calling the twelve to him he sent them out two by two." Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed (Mat 13:31). Jesus himself began small. He had a small number.

2. Work as a Team.  "He sent them out two by two."  Having a team does not guarantee success.  Team work depends on intimacy with Jesus and trusting each other. “Teamwork makes the dream work” - John Maxwell

3. Receive the Power and Authority.  The disciples got their authority in Matthew 28:18 and its power in Acts 1:8. Our power and authority are found in our deep connection with Jesus (Acts 19:13-16). God would never send us to do a job without the ability to get the job done right.

4. Go out but Travel Light- They went out and preached. Take nothing for the journey except a staff said Jesus. God is not against us having things. He does not want us to be tempted or distracted.

5. Preach Repentance. " They went out and preached that people should repent." Repentance is a sign that God is at work. God wants to make us holy not happy. Although happiness is a by-product of holiness.

 

Don’t Judge the Book by the Cover-Rejection of Jesus by Fr. Nelson Lobo OFM Cap

 

WONDERING GURU

14^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 2: 2-5; 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10; Mark 6: 1-6

 

Introduction: The worst negative feeling we might have ever experienced is the feeling of rejection. And that too by our own people.  People experience rejection from their parents, children, spouses, colleagues, friends, peers, and even fellow church members! In our scripture for today, Jesus visits his hometown, where he is rejected! His homecoming, a reunion of sorts, ends on a bad note. Jesus, a local boy comes back home not as the “carpenter” who left the town but as a prophet. In the eyes of the town, he’s not a prophet. He is too familiar for them to accept him as the “new” Jesus.  His town people could not get past the “little Jesus” to Jesus the teacher and prophet. We all know the old adage “Familiarity breeds contempt” - a saying that goes back as far as Publius the Syrian, in 2 BC. And we see in our Gospel reading, how this happened to Jesus when he went back to his hometown of Nazareth.

Story: A poorly dressed couple walked into the office and asked to see the president of Harvard University. The receptionist thought that such a village couple did not need to be in such a place. She told them, "he is busy all day." They said, "we'll wait." After several hours, she finally called the president and asked if he would give them a few minutes just to get rid of them. He agreed. The couple sheepishly walked into the office as the president got up in a huff and strutted toward them. The lady said, "we had a son who attended Harvard for a year and loved it. But about a year ago, he was killed in an accident. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him somewhere on campus." The president rolled his eyes. He looked at them in their unsophisticated clothing and said, "A building! Do you have any idea how much that costs. It will cost you more than 7 million dollars." The lady was silent. The president was pleased. The lady turned to her husband and said, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president looked bewildered.  At that point, Mr. & Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away from Harvard and went to Palo Alto CA where they established Stanford University as a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about. No wonder they say don’t judge the book by the cover. You may lose all the blessings and benefits.

We dishonour Jesus and miss all His blessings when we fail to recognize and accept His true identity as our saviour & Lord. Familiarity displaces a sense of awe and worship. It is easy for us to get so used to talking, singing, and hearing about Jesus that we lose a sense of majesty and holiness. This is reflected in many ways. When the songs we sing get to the point where it makes little difference if you are singing about Jesus or your love for a spouse or girlfriend, we are too familiar.  The way we dress and behave in the church we can lose that awe and reverence.  The assumption that God forgives anything and everything has the potential to reduce our reverence for God. Human assumptions outweigh divine authority. The hometown crowd in Nazareth had drawn their own conclusions about Jesus and would not be convinced.

We must be careful that we do not dishonour Jesus like His home town people. If we dishonour Jesus, we forfeit His blessing. Dishonour leads to unbelief. When we allow a biblical view of Jesus to erode, soon our churches will begin to function as social clubs. Look at the many denominations that have torn down the proper view of Christ. They have been reduced from vibrant communities of faith to social action organizations and friendship clubs.

The people in Nazareth lost out - as the Scriptures sadly records: "He (Jesus) could not do any miracles there (in Nazareth), except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them." (Mk 6:5) because of their unbelief. We see in contrast in the second part of our Gospel reading (Mark 6:7-13) the great miracles that the disciples did - when Jesus sent them out into the surrounding villages. Why because their message of repentance was received with faith. St. Mark records: They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. (Mk 6:13). We can expect great things from God when we respond to God’s word – regardless of who brings it. 

Conclusion: On the wall of an ancient cathedral of Lubeck, Germany, are these words: You call me Master and Obey me not. You call me Light and See me not. You call the Way and Walk me not. You call me Life and Desire me not. You call me Wise and Follow me not. You call me Fair and Love me not. You call me Rich and Ask me not. You call me Eternal and Seek me not. You call me Gracious and Trust me not. If I do not Bless you, Blame me not.