The Energy of True Religion

‘To love God and love your neighbour – this is one of the most attractive of the sayings of Jesus. It is an encouragement to live fully with what brings the greatest joy in life – true love of God and the neighbour. It is at the heart of good religion, and what attracts many to Jesus.

Bad religion puts law above love. Bad religion fights for the partial truth of religion. We risk being victims of bad religion, just as we can be victims of bad nationalism, bad psychology or any other bad way of living. Jesus’ life was to propose good reli­gion and to live by it. The religion of some of the Pharisees was bad, in that it was incomplete in its scope.

 We admire those who give energy in love and service. We are proud of people we know whose lives make a great and good difference to others. We know that our family and neighbour­hood, parish and school, workplace and leisure time have been enriched by the self-sacrificing love of many people, young and old.

‘He gave it his all’ – we say that of a good player at the end of a match. We say of parents that they “were always there for the children. May we give all we have in our lives, giving in love, knowing that all we give is itself a gift from God, the giver of all good gifts.

Picture Jesus with a sick person; watch him touching the person.
This would he against the law! What would you say to him?
Lord, let love be the guiding principle of all I say and think.

Donal Neary SJ

 A place for everything!

My mother used always say – put things where they belong. Newspapers, food, the bicycle not in the hall, and other such homely advice. Jesus says the same here – give what belongs to where it belongs and to whom.

So Jesus is being asked about taxes and politics. He knows he is being trapped about money. He moves on to higher questions. Something about the answer of Jesus asks us — where do we belong?

Belonging can sound heavy – as if we are being controlled, or our money belongs to us and we can do what we like with it. But for Jesus it’s the belonging of love, not of power and control.

Much is not in our control. We are born and die at God’s time. This reminds us that we are not the masters of our lives, we come from God and go to God. This belonging is the centre of our human family and community. God doesn’t want to control us but to love us.

But there’s an addition: belonging to God means belonging to each other. We have rights and duties of love.

To give to oth­ers what belongs to others; give to the poor what belongs to the poor. Everyone has a right to the food of the earth and the food of the mind, and shelter for the body.

It’s not charity when peo­ple are given food, education, a home, freedom of religion, free­dom of speech – it is justice. To give to God what belongs to God is to share the goods of the earth!

Think of a time when you made a decision for the common good –
money given away, cleaning the neighbourhood,
joining a parents’ group etc. Remember and be grateful
Lord, may your will that we share well the goods of the world be done.

Donal Neary SJ

Look to the Heart

There is a big problem with this story. In a good story Jesus al­ways raises a question. It seems a bit unfair to be thrown out, having been brought in at the last minute, because you had no garment. However, the garment means you want to be there and to take on the values of the feast. The garment is the desire of the heart to be a follower in name and deed.

God invites all, but expects us to come with a good heart. Of­ten we see people around Mass who seem not to respect it. They may not come often, but God looks to the desires of the heart. Maybe the non-churchy parents who want their child baptised know deep down that their love for the child brings them to bap­tism. Is that not a good reason? Or maybe the young people who come to Mass because they have exams coming up and need all the help they can get?

While Jesus is totally the inviting one, he wants us to remain with him. The heart that follows is the heart that wants to love, and that desire is the wedding garment.

The man knew in his heart that he should not be there. Jesus sees into the heart. What we look for is the sincerity in what brings us to God and that can be different for everybody. Religion is firstly of the heart, and then practice. We never know what’s in the heart of our people who sometimes come in faith. You never can tell! Let God be the judge of that!

Recall a time you felt invited by God to help a neighbour.
Offer that thanks to God now.
Lord, make my heart compassionate like yours.

Donal Neary SJ

The Vineyard is Ourselves!

God is all the time caring for his people and thinking of us, mak­ing sure we’re not endangered when he can help it. His care for his people goes into the heart of the Trinity, one of whom be­comes one of us, for our sake.

He wants us to bear fruit, as in the second reading. He will give these fruits – and wants us to value them.

In our society today, we could say that in many countries child protection and care is better today, We are more inclusive of people who differ from us and the church is open to the whole human family. In Ireland we have more peace now than we had, but maybe not more justice, especially for our migrant people. These are some fruits. We miss out on some issues – the value of faith and community is low and sometimes in public or political life we go for the temporary and the illusory and the dramatic. The gap between rich and poor is wider than ever. We have had bad experiences of greed and financial abuse, even in the charities sector. Our care of the elderly leaves much to be demanded.

Looking at the gospel vision, we can ask how the vineyard is nourished. We find that the cornerstone of the Christian way of life is love, and the love is a person in Jesus. He is the one who will invigorate the vine … Some will ignore him, some will fol­low. All of us are probably a bit in between. God sent his own Son into the vineyard of human life, not because life is perfect, but because love is. Jesus comes among us because we need him. 

Imagine a situation where people try to do well
in underdeveloped countries and are prevented. Pray for them.
Lord, may your kingdom come, here, there and now, today.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

The Grumpy Brother and the Honest One

Two brothers: the second was grumpy, honest and generous; the first was kindly, confused and selfish. We know often people who do what they say, who do something in the end, or who don’t do what they say. The first man knew his mind and then did what was right. Is it the message of this humorous and honest story that sincerity and integrity are important? A certain spirituality ignores ourselves – it’s all about doing. Grit your teeth and get down to it. Roll up your sleeves and work… ‘but nobody asked us how we were‘. But we find God both in the discernment and in the doing. In the end we must know how we feel about some­thing and then put that in the hands of God and in prayer and do what seems right. The Lord wants the follow through! We need to take time to decide well – the first son did not do that. Then we need to follow and do what is right.

We need sound heads, compassionate hearts and willing hands. The vineyard is where we live all the time. The call is to live in truth, love and justice. We need to believe in the possi­bilities of a better world, and to become people who can decide on what is right in the sight of God and do it. We will often re­sist. We want to do what is right and do the opposite. He under­stands our mixed motivation. In all of that we need the Christian vision and a desire to do the world a world of good.

Recall a time you felt resentful about doing what you ought to do.
How did you feel after doing it?
Lord, may everything I do begin with you
and be happily ended in love. Amen.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J