Mission Sunday – A passionate spirit

Irish people have long memories of helping the missions – collecting stamps, mission groups in schools, maybe aunts and uncles ‘out foreign’. It is an essential part of the Church, because Christ is missionary, sent not just to one, but to all, to make a better world, founded on the gospel of Christ. Even if people are not baptised, the Church wants to point out the way to a truly human life – in the way, truth and life who is Christ, and committed to the world of justice

With so much hunger, ill health, and lack of education, the missionary spirit is passionate about wanting to improve things with the message of the gospel.

Today we pray for all our voluntary missionaries, religious, clerical and lay men and women. They are helped by our prayers in what is often a lonely life for them.  Maybe we might even think about giving some time in volunteering in the poorer world;  or decide to vote for people who are concerned for the developing world and who will maintain our aid to the world in need; and we can encourage the young to think globally.

We pray for courage for our people overseas and also for ourselves that we can live as Jesus in different ways.  All are missionaries, as Pope Francis says – ‘Each individual Christian and every community is missionary to the extent that they bring to others, and live, the Gospel, and testify to God’s love for all, especially those experiencing difficulties. Be missionaries of God’s love and tenderness! Be missionaries of God’s mercy, which always forgives us, always awaits us and loves us dearly.’

May our lives be lived in love and service of you, Lord God, and of each other.

Donal Neary SJ

A grateful heart

Nine were cured, and a tenth was healed. The last one came back and lifted his heart in praise and thanks. He was a man of another country, not liked by the followers of Jesus, yet his heart was like the heart of Jesus, thankful and light.

The word ‘thanks’ can change an atmosphere. It is one of the most important words between people who are in ordinary and consistent relationships. With those we love, with those with whom we work, live, and with whom life is shared, it is a word that deepens the bond among us. It brings lightness among us.

The Christian heart is a grateful heart. We sometimes find people whose lives are very difficult and disabled on the outside but have a heart of thanks on the inside. They are the people who give thanks for what they have, rather than whine over what they have not!

The thanks of the Samaritan brought him into a sort of unity with Jesus and with the others who looked on him as a foreigner. Thanks can bring enemies together. When we give thanks for the same things, we shatter barriers.

The nine were cured, and probably did well for Jesus in their reports. But the tenth brought the new life of Jesus to others from a grateful heart.

Give thanks this day for the ordinary, for the people who are always there, for the goodness of God. Give thanks, and in giving thanks we will be more like Jesus, the one whose life and words always thank God his Father.

Lord Jesus it is right to give you thanks and praise.

Donal Neary SJ

Gift of Faith

Interesting that Jesus says we don’t need much faith – only the size of a mustard seed, the smallest of all seeds in his time. Does he really mean this?  He seems to be saying that faith does not depend on us. It is a gift from God which grows throughout our lives ‘fanned into a flame’, as in the second reading. We need to have confidence in the faith we have rather than always berating ourselves that it is little. In the Christian parish and community there is often more faith than we realise.

In a parish, we have the people who serve the sick and the poor; those who pray a lot and those who worship; those who reflect on faith and question.  There are the families where faith is expressed in many different ways.  Every moment where we come in touch with the world beyond ourselves, whether directly religious or not, is a moment of faith.

We can trace the history of our own faith and remember personal moments that strengthened the faith. These can be varied – prayer, love, works of justice, the beauty of creation, times of illness and death, sacramental life. What is important is that they are personal moments between us and God, which are privileged times of the growth of the mustard seed of faith.

We need the faith community.  We need to work together for the just world recognised in the first reading as the prophet ‘denounces violence, contention and discord.  We need the leadership of the community, clerical and lay, to point out ways of faith for our culture and our times. In this way God grows the mustard seed, which is the beginning of faith.

In the end faith grows in surprising ways. God is at work all the time, supporting our faith in varied and heartfelt ways.

Lord, I believe, strengthen my belief.

Donal Neary SJ

Faith in action: On fire with hope

This story of Jesus highlights the inequality of rich and poor. Jesus appeals to our sense of justice, right and goodness. There is no need for anyone to come back from the dead to warn us of this inequality. The doors between rich and poor can often be locked, as were the doors between Dives and Lazarus. Those outside can only knock, protest and even try to break down the doors. The doors must be opened from the inside.

This message of justice and hope for an equal share of the world’s goods for everyone is strong in the gospel of Jesus. His heart was on fire with the hope of a better life for the poor. He went to help them simply because they were poor.

The Christian Church, if it is to be faithful to the gospel, should be involved in many ways in the creation of a more just world. A Christian parish takes a special care of the refugee, the migrant, the war and climate challenged, the new poor and the old poor, the unborn, the disabled (Mental/ Physical), the sick, the elderly and the dying. In fact, all whose voices may not be usually heard.

The parable is meant not to scare with images of punishment, but to make us as aware of the huge inequalities that exist in our world, and in the exploitation of resources in the developing world.

Maybe we can pray not to be tormented by any of the pains of this story, but be tormented into action by the hunger, poverty and injustices of our world. Maybe then more doors can be opened from the inside of wealth to the outside of poverty.

Lord, may we build with you a world of justice and peace.

Donal Neary SJ

On the side of the poor

Isn’t it still the same as the first reading has it? The poor get the worst of things, and are diddled; it’s quite contemporary. It is about greed and fooling the poor; raising the shekel – like raising the exchange rate so that the poorer countries get less dollars for their kwacha and rupees; golden handshakes for people whose greed is palpable and whose attitudes have left so many people hard up; money well protected and taxes avoided if not evaded. Our waste of food could feed so many. People are poor not through their own fault but because they are neglected.

How many of the poorer schools are becoming less well off, with resources such as special needs assistants taken away. Hospital care is getting worse, as people wait for prolonged periods for treatment. Mostly the poor will first suffer from economic mishap. God hates this – he hates mistreatment of his people. Jesus raged against the exploitation of the poor.

We pay tribute to the people who work for the poor and needy – in the parish; in diocesan and other social agencies, and our volunteers at home and abroad. Can we perhaps vote more for public representatives who really care for the poor?

The call to the Church is to care as Jesus cared; we need the harsh words of the first reading sometimes to waken us up, and the story of Jesus to make sure we don’t fall sleep again.

The Late Pope Francis said:
‘if investments in banks drop a little: It’s a tragedy.
But if people are starving, if they have nothing to eat,
if they are not healthy,:           They die!
This is our crisis today,
Lord, may your kingdom come.

Donal Neary S.J.