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Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 6 November 2022

Well, we have made it. We have arrived at Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets.

Today’s snippet from Chapter 21 of Luke is one of several incidents arising from disputes with the Sadducees. A wealthy rival group associated with the temple who held to the written scriptures and rejected the concept of Oral Tradition as handed down by the Pharisees. Their position rejecting belief in the resurrection and angels occasioned many disputes. Remember the near riot at Paul’s trial in the Acts of the Apostles.

So, once again we have a group hostile to Jesus and on this occasion raising a very fundamental truth dear to Jesus. He had proclaimed, “I am the resurrection and the life” and they were aware of this claim.

Underlying this exchange is the tension felt often in the Gospel, raised by another of Jesus’ remarks, “My kingdom is not of this world”. Ultimately this teaching is an anathema to those who wanted a mighty warrior to build a fortress and wipe enemies off the face of the earth. Sadly, the Sadducees were strong supporters of that position, and their collection of riches was the trademark of their position.

For us, God infinitely rich in life, alive in himself and source of life to all, and one who does not wish the death of his creation, raises the dead to life as easily as God gives life.

We know that many do not believe in life after death. Many do, some are unsure about resurrection and we meet those who are very firm in their unwavering belief and hope that, “I shall live forever with my loving God”. Resurrected-life is radically different to our present life. Paul reminded us that eye has not seen etc, the wonderment God has in store for us.

Faced with this call and with an eye on next week’s reading, we must look back on our Lucan journey and in a sense see what camp we are in; the Sadducee’s or that of Jesus…

The finding will be a worthwhile offering on the coming feast of Christ the King!

Mons Frank

Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time 30 October 2022

We have made it to Jericho. It is now uphill to Jerusalem. Our journey with Luke finishes in the Temple on Week 33 and we will find ourselves at the cross on the final Sunday. So, as Scripture says, we “gird our loins” for the final ascent to Jerusalem.

Today’s readings are full of joy, almost like a last celebration of hope to strengthen us for the terrible events on the hill.

Wisdom shares that beautiful truth…“had you hated anything, you would not have formed it”. Makes the mind race back to the Book of Genesis…“God saw all he had made and, indeed, it was very good”. Bishop Joe Grech was fond of saying, “God does not make rubbish”.

We are not surprised to hear that “they all complained when they saw what was happening”. Good deeds today often are scorned in the current woke environment. That crowd could not handle Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector. He was successful. He worked for the Romans. He must be a sinner!

For Jesus he was lost; lonely, lost and last.

However, he sought out Jesus and welcomed him joyfully.

It is in hospitality that salvation comes, and Zacchaeus hastens to open the door to his house, and his soul, for He must stay at his house today.

Let us continue to be people of hospitality. People who share our possessions as Zacchaeus did, prior to meeting Jesus, and more so afterwards.

We often build tree houses for the kids. We all, possibly, find ourselves in those tree houses every now and then. Don’t let the moment pass when you hear, “Come down. Hurry. I must stay at your house today”.

As Wisdom says, “You love all that exists”…including each one of us.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time 16 October 2022

We are still on that road!

Jerusalem is getting closer, but the journey is perhaps a little tiresome for some. Maybe the seeming endless discussions, harsh at times, with the Pharisees and High Priests are wearing people down. A bit like Ukraine, let alone Myanmar! They and us need to pray continually and never lose heart ♥️

Jesus, in a sense, gives a rousing three-quarter time rallying call. And we will have another such reminder next week.

The example he uses this week reflects a familiar theme. He finds a member of the “lonely, lost and last” of his community to carry the message. Widows then suffered much discrimination. They had scant support from the State, no regular pension, little assistance from the community. We remember the words spoken by the Prophets and St Paul about the believers coming to the help of the “widows and orphans”.

Happily, then as now, we have individuals who just don’t give up! They restore hope and faith to the community. Many, like Mary MacKillop, we canonise. Most, we don’t. They become the source of renewed example and commitment for those “who have faith for a time, but in a season of testing, fall away” (Luke 8:13).

Every now and then we are asked to put in the hard yards when we just felt the need to call it quits.

Imagine our widow today being like the person we can all call to mind who comes out swinging because they know that the cause is just, and justice is all that they seek.

Perseverance and commitment.

Finally, given the background to this parable, I think it worth remembering that our wonderful God still prefers us to use our gifts aided by his help, grace and strength, rather than interfering too much by sign and wonders. He wants, in a sense, to let the club do the work.

God trusts us and has faith that we will act.

So, pray continually and never lose ❤️ again.

Mons Frank.

P.S. Just a small update re the floods in our region…

The smallish Campaspe River, just east of Bendigo, has proved once again that nature is powerful. The Church School Presbytery in Rochester are flood affected and the town cut off. The Cornella Church was surrounded on Friday. It is on the west of the Rushworth Parish. In the town of Murchison on the East on the Goulburn River has serious damage in the township. Benalla Church is surrounded by water from the Broken River and these rivers are now isolating parts of Shepparton and district. All, let alone the Ovens and King Rivers in the Wangaratta areas, are sending water to make life very uncomfortable for Echuca sitting on an already flooding Murray.

And they said we would never fill our water storages again.

Thankfully reports suggest but one death, in Rochester, one too many but the supporting communities are proving again the words from the Song of Songs, “Love is something that no flood can quench, no torrents drown”.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time 9 October 2022

The role and power of the individual.

Both the world and the Scripture this weekend alert us to the gift of being an individual…and the responsibility that accompanies that gift. Not all act with the total good of the community in mind.

Some come loaded down by their perceived vision and determined not to listen to those they seek assistance from, e.g., Naaman. Others act demanding complete acquiesce by all to their notion of what is good for all, e.g., Putin. Some demand healing and forget to say thanks, e.g., the lepers.

The Good News of Jesus offers the individual a journey of life, and of eternal life. For some reason, many individuals can’t accept the twofold package, and actively oppose those striving to live the good news…similar to the nine, counted amongst the chosen, but not willing to go beyond the new chance of being accepted back into community life.

Our efforts to present Good News today are often resisted with insults and derision. Even Paul was so attacked and imprisoned on more than one occasion.

We take consolation in his reminder that “they cannot chain up God’s News.”

This weekend sees the human race seriously being asked to consider preparations for a nuclear conflict. Madness. Insanity.

Many good people are offering healing as Jesus did for those out of step with the community. Civic leaders, religious leaders, and their efforts supported by the prayers of we ordinary folk.

Individuals can, and do, have a voice and can be a power for good or evil.

Let us strive, let us hold firm, that his vision of humanity will prevail.

A kingdom of peace and justice.

A kingdom of truth and life.

A kingdom of holiness and grace.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time 2 October 2022

Like the Apostles (first mention for some weeks), we, too, are battling along the road in our scriptural journey to Jerusalem. It is easy to imagine that the Apostles, the chosen ones, were a little querulous with all the responses that Jesus gave to the various groups we have been reading about these past few weeks. So, almost in exasperation, they ask the question, “How are we expected to carry out all these demands?” The least of which, omitted in today’s reading, “Even if he sins against you seven times a day, yet turns to you and says, ‘I repent’, forgive him.” We can all accept their response…“Give us faith!”

The demands voiced by Jesus are mounting.

Associated with those demands is the dawning that even if I accept these demands, I, too, may end up on a cross.

Yet still there is something very appealing in being in his company and so much truth in his words.

They still need a bit more faith to stick around.

Perhaps we do, too!

Jesus’ answer to their request is, in a sense, somewhat like the discovery Therese of Lisieux made in her lifetime. Like many things lost down the ages, namely, “Do all the little things well, indeed extra well.” That approach had been lost and its consequence was, leave the big-ticket items to those chosen by God to deliver.

So, in the context of Luke 17:1-19:

Avoid scandal,

Forgive seven times a day, or eight or nine,

Keep believing,

Have faith.

They must, of course, and we, too, avoid the self-justifying posture of the Scribes and Pharisees. They professed themselves to be defenders of the faith, of God’s Word. All the time they failed to fulfil its most basic demands. So, his word today, on this occasion, is not in the comfort basket but more in laying out the demands of disciples. Tough love this week.

Accept the fact that we are not all Brownlow Medallists, but unless there is a team of battlers, then the chosen ones can’t shine. Indeed “We are merely servants: we have done no more than our duty.”

If we keep trying, we will do more…

Mons Frank

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time 25 September 2022

What arrogance! He asks Lazarus to be sent to cool his tongue. Despite everything, Lazarus remains a slave.

These past weeks, we have Jesus addressing the crowds (hanging on every word and loving it), then the opponents, chief priests, Scribes, Pharisees (watching him closely, complaining) and last week his chosen disciples hanging in (but still confused).

His words “you can’t be the slave of God and of money” reminded Luke to include in 16:14 just prior to our reading today. “The Pharisees were money lovers. They heard these things and mocked him”!

Sadly, it will not be the last time he is mocked.

We do not have many Lazarus-like-people dumped at the rich man’s door today (perhaps an occasional impoverished nation) nor the pampered pet dog running around licking sores. Yet we seem to have a growing number of people sitting on pavements, begging, and not only in the big cities.

o, what do we do?

How should we act? Flip a coin into the basket or cap? Wish them well and pass by on the other side?

Stories abound (apocryphal or not) of what happens if one tries to talk, but not give; or to give in silence, or even to take the person to a safe place. There are real dilemmas.

Pope Francis in ‘Let us Dream’ suggests that this story is about indifference. The rich man knew about Lazarus. He passed him every day but did not let Lazarus’ situation affect him.

That indifference is picked up later in the story. God’s word via Moses and the prophets (like the words of Amos today), did not affect the rich man at all; he wanted salvation on his own terms.

That is not how it is in the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet again, we face the truth of the divine reversal in this story. Yet again, we are called to repentance and to hear, not just listen to, God’s word.

Praying with that word will solve our earlier dilemma.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time 18 September 2022

Note: After a series of teachings/parables directed to those opposed to him, Jesus now addresses ‘his disciples’.

Some of us were brought up against the expression, “the lure of possessions”.

That temptation was obviously very active in 30 CE. What drove Rome to invade Palestine, let alone invade Ukraine? Our papers are full of stories of stewards on fabulous money desiring to be paid ten million more or at least substantial bonuses. Regardless of the size of the pay packet, Jesus is reminding his chosen ones that there is always a time of reckoning. The auditor will get you!

The teaching is not so much about possessions, after all, he happily allowed the women of his group to provide for the wandering band out of their own resources (cf. Luke 8:1-3).

Now, just maybe, the steward in this case was not cheating his master but offering a discount from his own cut, and thus being somewhat prudent. Go with less at the moment, to ensure that there will be some in the future. He will, after the auditors visit, lose his present job!

I wonder what the disciples were making of this. A message was clearly being sent to them, the chosen ones.

Jesus amongst us has often been described as “God’s visitation of his people”. If so, the disciples then, and we today, are the stewards entrusted with right dispensing of the goods of the earth, and of our own possessions.

Recall a former message about storing up “treasures in heaven”. There seems to be a message here about almsgiving. Those who worship possessions and cling to them as ultimate, invite the auditor to find them unworthy of a place in the Kingdom of heaven. Our job is to make sure that we use what we have to secure a place with God.

A tough lesson for an emerging Church and its chosen stewards. A lesson still appropriate 2000 years later.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time 11 September 2022

So…the Queen is dead.

Many mourn, some are mystified, some indeed glad. For all, the end of an era.

Eras come and go. Adjustments have to be made.

Pope Francis remarks in his book, ‘Let Us Dream’ that, “Coronavirus has accelerated a change of era that was already underway”. He continues, “by change of era I mean not just that this is a time of change, but that the categories and assumptions that we used before to navigate our world are no longer effective”.

Looking at the Gospel, particularly this week, it seems that Jesus was sent to us at a time when change was stirring, an era was ending…

The tax collectors and sinners were often joined by the lonely and outcasts. They were eager to hear the word.

The Scribes and Pharisees representing the established order, viewed the word with suspicion and lacked joy in listening to it.

They were not into searching out the lost sheep, let alone picking up a broom to sweep the room. After all, what was a drachma to them?

Somewhere in these parables this week is recognition that there is a better way for all people and that is why his word resonated with the lonely, forgotten, the lost!

It seems that we are in such a time now.

We have inherited the same salvific word that Jesus was talking about on that last journey to Jerusalem. It offers to all a way of living that ennobles all people. It offers a table where all are equal, as the word is proclaimed and the bread blessed, broken and offered…Already some are grumbling, as their ancestors did. But more are hungry. Friends are needed to welcome them. In Gospel parlance we “must welcome sinners and eat with them”.

Resist the temptation to turn hospitality into hostile surveillance. Be eager to proclaim the great mercy of the loving God. Above all, be a person who regularly says, “I will rise and go to my Father”.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time 4 September 2022

He is still on that journey…to Jerusalem.

Many are still following him, including you and me.

Lots of pauses, chats, gatherings. They were popular…then and now.

Our Catholic world week began with the two-day meeting of the Pope and some 190 Cardinals.

In Australia, our civic world ended with a two-day talk-fest led by the Prime Minister and hundreds of guests. I wondered if either group heeded the words from the book of Wisdom, “The reasonings of mortals are unsure, and our intentions are unstable”.

Both meetings had huge agendas, each yearning to work for the common good. Each in their own way were seeking to build a tower…but I wondered if they had begun on agreed foundations. Some reports indicate that the image of the two “kings” was not too far removed from the reality! I wondered if either “king” had really sat down to “consider”?

Jesus is still on that journey to Jerusalem, the destination of his “tower”. It is steadily coming closer. The reality of what he is committed too becomes more clear. He can’t allow anything to get in the way. He still loves each of us completely, but he is committed to carrying out the will of his Father.

It is tough!

As scripture history reveals every now and then, “The call of God issued by the Prophet must relativise all other claims on life.” Doing that is the source of complete peace.

Having been made new in Christ Jesus, Onesimus is returned to his master. He, too, is now a Christian. Their relationship is now different, and the call of the Gospel demands that Paul must let go. All three people have been changed. A new way of living is demanded, at a cost to Paul, Philemon, and Onesimus. The civic status may remain the same; for the time being, master, slave, teacher. Nonetheless, the relationship of all has been changed for the better. All now live a new life in Christ Jesus. The tower had been built.

Yet again, these scripture passages remind us that choices cause conflict; in us and in those we love. But if we choose to follow Jesus, we are assured that ultimate peace will be ours, and also for those that follow our example.

Build your tower on his foundations.

Mons Frank

Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time 28 August 2022

Back to the table.

A little different to when we reflected upon Jesus being in the tax collector’s house.

This time, it is as we say, with the big wigs, the chief Pharisee!

It is a meal.

Our Gospel today omits the inevitable, a visitor wishing to be cured. Some things are the same … “they watched him closely.” Another translation says, “They had him under close scrutiny.” It is tough to be under scrutiny all the time. There are enough cameras in Australia; but it is much worse in many countries today.

Dinners are important and it is only four months to Christmas Day. Many are planning that dinner already. The effort to gather all; the scattered, the self-isolated, the ones with a grudge, let alone those who will come, is enormous but essential.

The table is important, even in our TV dinner age, perhaps more important than ever.

We often hear of fundraisers arranged around a dinner table with a price tag similar to “how they picked the place of honour”. One has to be seen next to the “chief”. But why?

Jesus, in noticing all this, yet again proclaims the “divine reversal”. The Kingdom is not the sole prerogative of the leading people. It also includes the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. Our task is to identify that group in our society and do something about it. Thankfully, we have established many organisations and institutions to provide a room and a place at the table. Not all are perfect, but for many, the care is adequate, certainly better than what was offered in the time of Jesus. The recent move to provide night shelter during the winter in the city and country is welcome. This is evidence of good will in tackling a recent need, the homeless crisis.

Perhaps the two questions for our generation are …

One … the loneliness in our institutions

Two … as alluded to above, the Christmas table; at home and in worship.

Can we find ways to bring comfort and joy to the lonely, and to find ways to fill the empty chair at both tables this Christmas?

Mons Frank