e return to the Liturgy in ‘Ordinary Time’, as our world suggests we are returning to ‘normal time’. There are some doubts about the latter and one might say that our ‘Ordinary Time’ should not be the same each year, even if the cycles of prayers and readings remains the same. We were drawn into the Mystery of the Passion and Death of Jesus, exploding with the gift of Pentecost. It ought to mean something different, perhaps truths more refined or honed each year. That, then, enables us to look at the readings with enriched lenses.
We are told that Matthew’s Gospel was written bearing in mind his mainly Jewish community, now under attack from the old guard who would not accept the teaching and revelation of the Jew, Jesus. So, life was increasingly difficult. Hence “Do not be afraid.” That injunction may be read quite differently in Hong Kong these days!
What goes around, comes around is our saying. Jesus puts it a little differently, “For everything that is now covered will be uncovered.” Many have discovered that truth in public life this week in Victoria, as our Church similarly experienced in the Royal Commission. Truth has a habit of surfacing. The enticement to secrecy is alluring; the pain of subsequent revelation is often excruciating. The machinations of “friends”, as Jeremiah states, still exists. Fake news exists not only in America; but in Covid-19 time, some in our city are blaming the Karen refugees for importing the virus into Australia!
Like Jeremiah, we have recommitted our cause to the Lord and reinforced that commitment in the Easter celebrations. Paul reminds us that “It is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift.” That is our inheritance.
Today:
*Recommit to the values of the Gospel,
*Declare yourself for him in the presence of men, and
*Do not be afraid.
Mons Frank