Homily – July – 2024
HOMILY
ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN
ST CHRISTOPHER’S CATHEDRAL
7TH JULY 2024
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
AND MASS ONLINE
Readings: Ezk 2:2-5 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Gospel Mark 6:1-6
Perhaps you are familiar with the proverb, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
This means that closeness can lead to a loss of respect. In other words, too much knowledge can lead to taking others for granted. We see this particularly, don’t we, in our family relationships. We are with each other all the time and sometimes this familiarity can bread all sorts of disrespectful arguments.
A similar thing could be said in the Scriptures. Particularly in today’s Scriptures. We could say that not only does familiarity breed contempt but it also breeds a loss of faith.
The Old Testament Reading today describes the beginning of the Ministry of the Prophet Ezekiel.
Prophets always bring people home to their true reality and identity. In a sense they are radical traditionalists. They basically say to God’s people, in uncompromising terms, “You lack respect and faith in God!” They call people to conversion and repentance. They normally get a very negative reaction from people which results in so many of the prophets killed in the service of their Prophetic Ministry. In this case Ezekiel is saying that the people have taken God for granted which leads to them taking themselves too seriously. When you take your eyes of God you tend to put your eyes on yourself, we make ourselves into some sort of God. This is the essence of rebellion which is the quintessential understanding of Biblical sin. Today’s First Reading uses the words “Revolt…defiant…obstinate…”
A similar taking for granted can be seen in today’s Gospel from Mark.
Recall over the last few weeks in Mark’s Gospel we have witnessed the great triumphs of Jesus in preaching and healing. But, now He goes back to His home town of Nazareth. Recall that in the Lord’s 33 years of life here on earth it was only the last three years that He was in Public Ministry, He spent 30 years in the little village of Nazareth. Everybody knew everybody as is the same in our own country towns! When Jesus arrives and begins preaching the people were “astonished when they heard him.”
Rather than leading to faith, it leads to a lack of faith and disrespectful comments. There is more than just a slur in their comments that question His origins and the humility and littleness of His background. They say, “This is the carpenter.” It is like saying, “He is just simply a handyman. How could he have such wisdom.” Another slur is when they say, “Surely, the son of Mary.” The Scripture Scholars observe that Joseph is not mentioned. This leads us to believe that Joseph had already died but it does bring out the point that they are gossiping about somewhat “suspicious” origins of Jesus regarding Mary’s conception.
As for Jesus, we hear that “he was amazed at their lack of faith.” He was unable to work any miracles because where there is no faith there can be no healing.
May this never be said of us in our Christian communities. May we never be so familiar with the presence of Christ in our midst that we become contemptuous and disrespectful of the centrality of Christ in our lives. Through conversion and repentance may we always see “Only Jesus.”
With these reflections, let us turn our thoughts to the observance of today which is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sunday. Our dear Aboriginal friends have offered the title for today’s observance around Australia, “Keep the fire burning; strong in faith.” Like the Biblical themes of today, our familiarity with our Aboriginal friends can produce a lack of respect and even a lack of faith.
It is about one year now since the Constitutional Referendum lapsed so spectacularly. At the same time, the socio economic indicators of our Aboriginal First Australians are still deplorable, especially regarding incarceration in our prisons.
We in Australia too easily politicise our friendship with our First Australians. Everything in their regard seems to end up in dead end streets because it moves into an excessively political focus which tends to scatter rather than unite us.
One example comes to mind. In recent months I attended a function organised by the Government. There were quite a lot of short speeches from political figures. Every one of them stood up and made an Acknowledgment of Country.
I myself am very keen on Acknowledgment of Country but not in an overly politicised way! For over six speakers in the course an hour and a half to stand up and make an Acknowledgment of Country moves towards tokenism and a patronising of our First Australians. I note that once this “box” was ticked none of the substance of the input made any reference to Aboriginal matters.
Let us certainly acknowledge our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whenever appropriate, but in this move towards respect let us not be disrespectful and tokenistic in our relations. This only sets us back as we have seen in other initiatives over the decades.
One way I like to acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, for example, is not to use the politically correct formula but to make other comments that acknowledge how we take our first Australians seriously.
For instance, sometimes I mentioned that in recent years the number of Aboriginal children in our Catholic Education system has increased exponentially. Clearly, Aboriginal families are choosing our educational system to have a truly broad and deep education of their children, which includes an ennobling of their Aboriginal background. This truly is an Acknowledgment of Country! Let us not allow familiarity to breed contempt in relation to our First Australians. A change of attitude that is genuine and a real conversion to our relations with them will hopefully change social and political structures in the long term.
A beautiful way that each one of us can make an Acknowledgment of Country is to seek out Aboriginal people in our own community, befriend them and get to know them. That truly would be a wonderful acknowledgment because it starts in the heart and then moves to the head, hands and feet. So let us keep the fires burning and let us be strong in faith with our first Australians by encouraging healthy attitudes and discourse to flourish.
In regard to our “Gospill” for today, since everything must begin in the heart, let us use this little expression frequently this coming week, “Set my heart right in your sight, O ’Lord.”
HOMILY
ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN
ST CHRISTOPHER’S CATHEDRAL
14TH JULY 2024
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
AND MASS ONLINE
Readings: Amos 7:12-15 Eph 1:3-14 Gospel Mark 6:7-13
We are well and truly into our Year of the Holy Spirit where the focus is on the pre-eminence of evangelisation in all that we do and say as an Archdiocese. The word “Evangelisation” should not overwhelm us. The three words that we have as our subtitle for the year are Encounter, Discipleship and Mission.
It is the second Sunday now where, in the Gospel, the Lord is focused on Mission. What could we learn from our Sacred Text?
Following on from the unsuccessful mission of last Sunday when He went back to His hometown of Nazareth, Jesus now sends out His twelve Apostles (to be sent out) and gives them instructions on how to be Missionaries.
All of us are called into this dimension of Missionary life. It is not optional. Due to our Baptism we are called to present Christ in all different ways to the world in which we live. This is not just a duty or profession of Religious Orders. It comes to us as a responsibility of our Baptism.
Living this out will not give us a ticket to popularity. All the great Biblical Prophets and Missionaries have run into lots of trouble.
In the First Reading today Amos responds to those who criticise him by simply telling them that he never saw himself as a Prophet. He said, “I was a shepherd, and looked after sycamores.” He basically says, “Don’t blame me blame the management!”
We too also expect trouble in living out the Missionary life.
I was in trouble just a few weeks ago by being a Missionary!
I had just celebrated a wonderful school Mass for one of our Primary schools here in Canberra. The Mass concluded a bit earlier that anticipated. In the 20 minutes remaining I suggested to the Principal of the school that we might have a Q and A with the children. This was to be done in a spontaneous way.
What I didn’t expect were the wonderful questions the children asked me. How could Primary school children ask such profound questions about the Catholic faith and God! Their questions made me, on one level, regret that I even asked for the Q and A session! Two questions have remained with me over these days. One young child asked me, “Does God have a wife?” Another child asked me, “What was the last miracle of Jesus?”
I will tease you and not give you the answers I gave just yet. Let us consider the rules for Missionary life Jesus gave His Apostles.
He seemed to have given three Missionary rules to the Apostles. Let’s learn from them.
The first is to travel lightly. He says, “Take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses.” On reflection of my experience at the school and today’s Gospel it makes me think that when I give answers, particularly to children on rather complicated Religious questions, I should “travel lightly.” This means that I should not use language of a complicated theological nature completely incomprehensible to the people I am talking to. Traveling lightly, we must be Missionaries in a persuasive manner, being very much aware of the vocabulary and the culture to which we are speaking.
The second Missionary rule of Jesus is to rely on the hospitality of others. In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district.” Emphasising in this statement to rely on the goodness of others. In regard to my own reflections with the children, I should take seriously their questions. I should rely on their good will. I must not be dismissive or patronising in my response to their questions. I must remind myself that they are not out to trick me or promote embarrassment.
The third Missionary rule is to preach repentance. Mark’s Gospel shows the Apostles as they move off to evangelise in a Missionary way. It says, “So they set off to preach repentance.” No matter who we talk to and what age they are, the response we give to the Good News of Jesus should be to help others make room for Jesus in their lives. This is something very deep within. Repentance means that we make room for Jesus and this is called conversion. You can’t fill a glass that is already filled. Listening to whatever we say we hope people will take their eyes off their own agendas and put their eyes on Gospel agendas. Through the power of the Holy Spirit change their attitudes and actions in the light of the Good News of Salvation.
Now let me return to my humble answers to the children’s wonderful questions. If anyone feels they have a better answer than the ones I gave, please see me after Mass!
To the question “Does God have a wife?” I said “Yes and it is us.” We are the Bride of Christ. St Paul talks about how Jesus is the spouse and we are the Bride of Christ. All the Baptised and the Church are linked with Jesus in a spousal relationship. When we talk about the Church we use the feminine gender. We say, “Holy Mother Church.”
To the other question “What is the last miracle of Jesus?” I said “The Last Supper.” I mentioned to them that at The Last Supper Jesus foreshadowed, in a special way, His forthcoming Death and Resurrection. This is the greatest miracle of all because the Last Supper not only embraced what was to happen historically in the next few days, but it is also a continuous miracle. In fact we are in the midst of this miracle right now. The Mass that we celebrate was begun by Jesus and continues until Jesus comes again. It is something we must never take for granted or get used to. It is Jesus himself who leads the Mass. The Priest or the Bishop or Deacon stands in the place of Jesus but it is Jesus himself who continues the Last Supper miracle which we now call the Mass. We thank the Lord with all our heart that we are able to, not only look at His miracles in the past as they were something of 2,000 years ago, but in the Mass, we participate in this ongoing miracle which continues to change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus Himself.
So dear friends, let us all over the week ahead think more seriously about being Intentional Missionaries.
Just very recently I was talking to a very elderly Josephite nunn when I was in North Sydney for a Bishop’s meeting. I have met her many times. Although 94 years of age she is a great Missionary. I often see her coming back from or going to shopping. In more recent times, when we met each other in the street she excused herself and said she was going shopping. She use this expression, “I am going fishing.” She mentioned that there were so many lonely people in Shopping centres and she tries to bring forth Christ in them in their emptiness. That is what she means when she says she is “going fishing” for Christ in Shopping centres.
If a 94 year old Josephite nunn and questions from 12 year olds can teach us much about being Missionaries, there is no excuse for us not to lead our life in our families, neighbourhoods and workplaces in a Missionary way. Let’s do that with greater intentionality in this coming week.
Our “Gospill” for this week is, “Lord Jesus help me to make you present in our world today.”
HOMILY
ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN
ST CHRISTOPHER’S CATHEDRAL
21ST JULY 2024
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
AND MASS ONLINE
Readings: Jer 23:1-6 Eph 2:13-18 Gospel Mark 6:30-34
Last week’s Gospel ended with Jesus sending out, in pairs, the Disciples as new Missionaries.
Today’s Gospel has the Apostles “(those sent out)” returning to the Lord. They returnedfull of enthusiasm and joy, eager to share their adventures of Missionary faith with Jesus.
There is, however, a hint of mistaken enthusiasm and joy already in the text. Mark 6:30 indicates, “The apostles re-joined Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.” What about all the Holy Spirit had done and taught through them??
We always need to be aware that our outreach as Baptised Christians is not something completely of our own doing. A good teaching of this is in the First Reading today from Jeremiah. Here the religious leaders had become self-indulgent rather than other-indulgent and tended to, as a result, scatter rather than gather as shepherds of the sheep of the Lord. The prophet Jeremiah states, “You have let my flock be scattered and go wandering and have not taken care of them.” Here the unity principal and the pastoral principal are eclipsed. It is God Himself as the Good Shepherd who pledges to “bring them back to their pastures.” This is surely a foretelling of the coming of Jesus (the Good Shepherd).
What is Jesus’ remedy to this hubris? He decides to take them on a retreat! He says to them, “You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.” Rest and a place of solitude is the essence of these days of retreat with Jesus.
Wouldn’t it be great if we too could sign up for this retreat led by Jesus Himself.
Retreats are becoming more and more popular in these days when everyone seems to be so busy. Particularly retreats that involve a pilgrimage, even pilgrimages to the other side of the earth, but seem popular. We often hear of people going on the “Camino” in Northern Spain. We don’t have to go to so much trouble to have a day or two or three or four of rest and solitude in Jesus.
All Christian retreats over the centuries have tended to be based on three dimensions. First of all there is the E.S.P. The “E” for eating. The “S” for sleeping. The “P” for praying. Even the Apostles were hungry because they had no time to eat. It is very hard to pray if you haven’t eaten and slept!
Secondly it must take place in some lonely place where you won’t be distracted. This does not necessarily mean going to an expensive place of pilgrimage. It simply can mean that you have located a place, perhaps in your house, which can become a little place of solitude. Perhaps somewhere in a park or in nature, even your backyard if that will help you to find solitude.
Sometimes people find it difficult to go away because they feel that they may be lonely away form Mobile phones and activity. This need not be the case. However, loneliness in prayer can move towards solitude which in turn becomes beautiful prayer and encounter with Jesus. Remember our Archdiocesan Assembly in October is first of all based on Encounter with Jesus and then comes Discipleship and Mission.
Thirdly, we listen to the Holy Spirit. This is beautifully done through Christian Meditation and is always a Marian experience because like her we say, “He who is mighty has done great things for me, Holy is His name.”
But Jesus’ plans to launch into a retreat with His Disciples became unstuck. There is an important “but…however” halfway through the Gospel today. It is that people come running to see Jesus and ask for His healing and teaching. The Disciples and Jesus don’t seem to be able to get away from them. There is a reluctance in Jesus to dismiss them in the first instance. Indeed, the text says, “Jesus took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set Himself to teach them at some length.”
This says something wonderful about our Jesus. Jesus is prepared to change His important plans. Why? Because “He is interrupted” by the needs of others and He wants to show mercy to them. He wants to gather and heal them like the Good Shepherd.
I suppose the arising question is this, “Are we prepared to change, so readily, our own important plans in life when other things interrupt?” I am not really talking about the interruptions of our computer systems going down or chaos at the airports. I am talking about other more primal things that make us move in the flexible way that Jesus shows.
Here are two examples. Not so long ago I spoke to a lady. Dementia is beginning in her life. She mentioned to me that a crucial moment happened when she went for a walk and then found herself on a park bench in a bush setting having no idea where she was, how she got there, or how she would get home. Fortunately she was able to use her phone to seek help. That was a primal moment when she realised her life was changing. She still struggles to move to a plan B in her life, as we all would. This is most understandable. But even the anger and the disappointment we feel about these life changes are a prayer in themselves.
Another example in more recent times is a phone call I had with a man who has recently contracted cancer of a very aggressive nature. This is made all the worse because his occupation and most of his life has been spent relying on his voice. The cancer involves his tongue. Whether he likes it or not he has to move to a plan B. Again and totally understandably this is not an easy transition. Once again, the anger that we might feel, even towards God, is part of the prayer as we move to a plan B.
Let us pray in this Mass that just as Jesus was prepared to move to a plan B when circumstances prevented His original plans, that we too might have the grace to be able to do the same.
The word “Surrender” comes to my mind as ultimately the way of the Lord when things change is such a primal way.
May our “Gospill” therefore be, “Lord Jesus help me to surrender into your merciful arms in my life.”
HOMILY
ARCHBISHOP CHRISTOPHER PROWSE
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF CANBERRA AND GOULBURN
ST CHRISTOPHER’S CATHEDRAL
28TH JULY 2024
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B)
AND MASS ONLINE
Readings: 2 Kings 4:42-44 Eph 4:1-6 Gospel John 6:1-15
Using the vocabulary of the Olympic Games in Paris, I think today’s Gospel of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish would win the Gold medal of all of Jesus’ Miracles!
A particular reason for this is that this miracle is mentioned in all four Gospels. Indeed it is mentioned six times in the Gospels. It is repeated in some of the Gospels. All this means that the early Church saw Jesus’ Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes as absolutely pivotal. In our Liturgy we will spend the next few weeks meditating on Chapter six of John’s Gospel as we depart for a time from our systematic year of presentation of Mark’s Gospel in this “Year of Mark.”
Briefly speaking by way of introduction, it is a miracle that both looks back and looks forward.
We can see by the great poetry of the Scriptures that the Miracle looks back on all that has taken place.
For example, it is mentioned that the miracle took place “shortly before the Jewish feast of the Passover.” The Passover celebrates the movement from slavery to freedom of God’s chosen people and their journey through the desert over 40 years. This included of course the great Miracle of the Manna in the Desert.
Manna and the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fish are clearly linked.
Secondly we see that John comments on Jesus’ posture. He says, “Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples.” This is like the “New Moses.” It shows Jesus preaching to His people and showing them the outpouring of the Kingdom of God. Then we have the reference to Psalm 23 when it is commented that the people sat down were there was “plenty of grass.” This Good Shepherd always leads His people to pastures of plenty.
These allusions to the Old Testament continue throughout the text.
It is also a Miracle that looks forward to the future. Particularly our Eucharistic future. There are key words of the Eucharist in the Miracle text which foreshadows the Last Supper when it states, “Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks and gave them out to all who were sitting ready…giving out as much as was wanted.” The significance of Jesus giving people food to eat in plenty, is linked with the First Reading today from 2 Kings were the prophet Elisha instructs his people to “give it to the people to eat…they will eat and have some left over.” It also brings out the social dimension of the Kingdom of God were “nothing gets wasted.” Indeed there are “twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves.”
These aspects bring out the importance of this Miracle in our Salvation history. We could reflect on these aspects more fully in the weeks ahead.
For today, however, the key word is “Abundance.” There is so much left over in the multiplication of five loaves and two fish.
This abundance is contrasted with the more narrow arguments put forward by Philip and Andrew who are suggesting Jesus send the people away.
In Australian language we use the word “Stingy.” This means mean spirited: Not particularly trusting when things are in short supply therefore we cannot be generous. This is the absolute opposite to what the Lord wants to give.
Yet, they are attitudes expressed in Philip who says to Jesus, almost like the Banker of the Twelve Apostles, “Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat…Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each.”
Then comes Andrew almost like a Sociologist who indicates that there are so many people and he has made a survey of the huge crowd and found “there is only a small boy with five loaves and two fish.” This does not lead him to trust and have faith in God’s abundance but leads him to a very stingy conclusion when he says, “But what is that between so many?”
So we reflect on the stinginess of the Apostles because it reminds us of our own stinginess and lack of trust in God’s Abundant Grace.
Jesus is always indicating, in one way or the other in all His Miracles but particularly this one, to insure “nothing gets wasted.” Jesus always wants to leave no one behind.
We recall this generous and abundant blessing on this World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. The theme of today is, “Do not cast me off in my old age.” Let us not think only of generosity with food but also generosity with our relationships, particularly those who are elderly and need our help more than ever. Mind you their own wisdom needs to be harnessed and heard in a generous way also.
So let us now continue on with the Mass which is the continuation of this Gold Medal Miracle of Jesus.
I suppose the important lesson becomes: If Jesus is so abundant with us and super generous, let us also be abundant in our generosity and appreciation of others. Let our responses always be full of abundance and never stingy.
Our “Gospill” for today is, “Lord you are always abundant to us, let us be abundant in our relationships with others.”