Audio Reflections of Wednesday, June 14, 2017

To hear the Audio Reflections of Wednesday, June 14, 2017 click HERE

Wednesday, June 14, 2017 - When was the last time you performed an action without any expectation of reward? Will you perform one today?

To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 3:4-11; Mt 5:17-19

These verses contain what are commonly known as the “theme” of the Sermon on the Mount. In these verses, the Matthean Jesus makes explicit that he is a law abiding Jew. His attitude towards the Jewish law is fundamentally positive. However, Jesus also makes explicit here, that he has come not merely to confirm or establish the law, but to fulfil or complete it. This means that he will go beyond a purely legal interpretation to a broader perspective. He will remove the focus from the mere external and concentrate on the internal. The focus will be more on the attitude than merely on the action.

While laws, rules and regulations are necessary and help towards order, it is also possible that they can become ends in themselves and not as they are meant to be, means to an end. We might follow in some cases the letter of the law, but miss out on its spirit. We might even follow the rule or law only because we are afraid of getting caught and punished and not because we are convinced of it.

Audio reflections of Tuesday, June 13, 2017

To hear the Audio reflections of Tuesday, June 13, 2017 click HERE

Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - How will you as a disciple of Jesus be salt and light today?

To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 1:18-22; Mt 5:13-16

The text of today is somewhat of a link text, which joins the beatitudes (5:3-12) to the theme of the Sermon (5:17-20). These verses point out the effect that living the Sermon will have on the liberation of the world. 

The text makes two assertions about the followers of Jesus. The first is that they are the salt of the earth and the second is that they are the light of the world. Both these symbols seem to point to the indispensable role that the disciples of Jesus are to play in the liberation of the world. It is through the lives of the disciples of Jesus that the world will be moved to glorify God. This is indeed a great privilege, but also a great responsibility.

Salt is an ingredient that adds flavour or taste to that to which it is added. It makes the insipid tasty, edible and enjoyable. Disciples of Jesus are called to add taste and flavour to the lives of others. 

Light enables one to see correctly and results in removing darkness. This is what the disciples of Jesus must do if they are to be true disciples: remove the darkness from the lives of others.

Audio Reflections of Monday, June 12, 2017

To hear the Audio Reflections of Monday, June 12, 2017 click HERE

Monday, June 12, 2017 - Do any of the beatitudes apply to you? Will you strive to make at least two applicable to yourself today?

To read the texts click on the texts: 2 Cor 1:1-7; Mt 5:1-12

Beginning today, the gospel reading will be from the Gospel of Matthew except on feasts or special occasions. The Church begins from Chapter 5 of Matthew. The three chapters beginning from 5:1 and ending at 7:29 contain one of the most famous discourses of Matthew known as “The Sermon on the Mount”.

Since we will be reading this Sermon for almost three whole weeks on weekdays, it is important to have some background of what the Sermon is about.

The first point that we note is that this is the first of the five great discourses in the Gospel of Matthew. Each of these five ends with the phrase, “and when Jesus had finished…” (7:28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). It begins by showing Jesus as a Rabbi teaching ex-cathedra (5:1) and ends by showing Jesus as the Messianic prophet addressing the crowds (7:28).

The second point that must be kept in mind is that the Sermon is a composition of Matthew. An analysis of similar texts in the Gospels of Mark and Luke indicate that many verses found here in Matthew are found in Mark and Luke in different contexts. This does not mean that Jesus did not say these words. It means that Matthew has put them together in this manner.

The third point is the theme, which will determine how one will interpret the Sermon as a whole. Most are agreed that the theme of the Sermon is found in 5:17-20, in which Jesus speaks about having come not to abolish but to fulfill the Law and Prophets, and issues a challenge to those listening to let their “righteousness” be greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees in order to enter the kingdom.

Today’s text contains what is commonly known as the “Introduction” to the Sermon and contains the Beatitudes, which are the communication of a blessing. The mountain is a “theological topos” in the Gospel of Matthew (Luke’s Sermon is from “a level place cf Lk 6,17) and therefore means much more than simply a geographical location. Matthew does not name the mountain, but by choosing it as the place from where Jesus delivers the Sermon, he probably wants to portray Jesus as the New Moses delivering the New Law from a New Mountain. While Jesus in the Gospel of Luke “stands” and delivers the Sermon (Lk 6:17), in Matthew, Jesus sits down. This is the posture that the Jewish Rabbis adopted when communicating a teaching of importance or connected with the Law. In Luke the crowd is addressed from the beginning of the Sermon and addressed directly, “Blessed are you poor…” (Lk 6:20), but in Matthew, it is the “disciples” who come to Jesus and whom he begins to teach. The address is indirect, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (5:3). 

While Luke has four beatitudes with four corresponding “Woes”; Matthew has seven plus an additional beatitude, with no corresponding woes. The reason why the “eight” is called an additional beatitude is because the first and the seventh both end with the phrase “theirs is the kingdom of heaven” forming what is known as an inclusion. Beatitude is an expression of congratulations, which recognises an existing state of happiness. While the rewards described in the first and seventh beatitudes are in the present tense, they are in the future tense in the other five beatitudes. The sense is that it is God himself who will do all of this for them. By choosing to bless the disadvantaged, the Matthean Jesus indicates the thrust of his mission, which is primarily a mission to the disadvantaged.

Audio Reflections of Sunday, June 11, 2017, Trinity Sunday

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Sunday, June 11, 2017 - Trinity Sunday - Three in One and One in Three

To read the texts click on the texts:Ex 34:4b-6, 8-9; 2 Cor 13:11-13; Jn 3:16-18

After asking his disciples about who people said he was, Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Logos, existing in the Father as His rationality and by an act of His will, being generated, in consideration of the various functions by which God is related to his creation, but only on the fact that Scripture speaks of a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Spirit, each member of the Trinity being co-equal with every other member, and each acting inseparably with and interpenetrating every other member, with only an economic subordination within God, but causing no division which would make the substance no longer simple.”

And Jesus said, “What?”

If Peter were a theologian this is what he would have said and Jesus, like most of us, would not have understood what he said. It is never easy speaking about the Trinity. A friend of mine, who is a parish priest, said to me that Trinity Sunday is a good Sunday to invite the Bishop to preach.

The story is told of St Augustine of Hippo, a great philosopher and theologian, who wanted to understand the doctrine of the Trinity and to be able to explain it logically. One day as he was walking along the sea shore and reflecting on this, he suddenly saw a little child all alone on the shore. The child made a hole in the sand, ran to the sea with a little cup, filled her cup with water, came and poured it into the hole she had made in the sand. Back and forth she went, repeating what she did. Augustine went up to her and said, “Little child, what are you doing?” and she replied, “I am trying to empty the sea into this hole.” ‘How do you think,” Augustine asked her, “that you can empty this immense sea into this tiny hole and with this tiny cup?” To which she replied, “In the same manner in which you think that with your small mind you can comprehend the immensity of God?” With that the child disappeared.

Trinity Sunday is a special Sunday in the liturgical year; it has been celebrated since 1334 when Pope John XXII fixed it as the Sunday after Pentecost. It is a Sunday which is not tied to any special event. We do not have to remember any special events or rituals. Instead it is about a day when we remember just God – the mystery and the reality that God is. It is a bit like a birthday when all we do is celebrate a particular person and their presence with us.

A good way to understand the Trinity, even if inadequately  would be to understand the Father, Son and Spirit as Lover, Beloved and the Flow of Love between them that has constantly flowed from time began. Through the Incarnation, the Beloved came to dwell among us. When we accept the offer to become the adopted children of God, we also become the Beloved of God, and share in this same Flow of Love. 
However, even this way of understanding falls short. The Church teaches us that God is three persons in one nature; that Father, Son and Holy Spirit together are God. Beyond that is nothing more than the speculation of our tiny minds.

Though not explicitly Trinitarian, the first and third readings convey the fundamental mystery that the Triune God reaches out to people in love, seeking the deepest communion. The reading from Exodus follows the apostasy of the people in worshiping the golden calf. Moses again ascends the mountain to intercede, offering his own life for the people This evokes yet another revelation of God as a merciful and gracious God, “slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity,” truly a God who knows the suffering and weaknesses of humanity and is constantly summoning them back to his love and mercy.

The same theme is taken up by the text from the Gospel of John, which contains one of the most quoted New Testament texts: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” The God who heard the cries of his people in Egypt, witnessed their affliction and came down to save them through Moses, now sends his Son, so that everyone who believes in him may be saved. For John judgment is not something that happens at the end of history; it takes place within history, as people consciously choose evil over good and turn away from the covenant God of love, mercy, grace and truth. The ultimate mystery is that the Trinitarian God who reaches out in love is the same God who gives freedom to reject that love.

Thus the feast of the Trinity celebrates freedom, love, community, diversity and inclusiveness, God does not exist in isolated individualism but in a community of relationships. In other words, God is not a loner or a recluse. The Trinity embraces diversity. This means that a Christian in search of Godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. The Trinity is Community.

Audio Reflections of Saturday, June 10, 2017

To hear the Audio Reflections of Saturday, June 10, 2017 click HERE

Saturday, June 10, 2017 - How often in a day do you let the opinion of others affect your behaviour? What will you do about it today?

To read the texts click on the texts:Tobit 12:1,5-15,20; Mk 12:38-44

There are two parts to the text of today. The first deals with the condemnation of the scribes (12:38-40) and the second the commendation of a widow (12:41-44).

The charge against the scribes is that they have no concern for anyone except themselves. This lack of concern is shown in the behaviour they exhibited. Their words do not correspond to their actions and they do what they do only for external show.

Since one of the charges against the scribes was that they devour widows’ houses, the second part of the text speaks about a poor widow. The widow unlike the scribes has no concern for self and this is shown in her willingness to give everything to God. She is what she does.

So many of us live our lives based on the opinion of others. We want others to think well of us and will often act in such a way that meets their approval. There are also times when we may not be convinced of something and yet would do it only because we want to show externally that we are “part of the crowd”. When we behave in this manner we are imitating the scribes.