30 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 28 October 2012, Mark 10:46-52

The Way

The 'Camino'

I want to speak to you this morning about salvation. A couple of years ago, the well-known Catholic actor, Martin Sheen and his son, Emilio Estevez, collaborated on a film called 'The Way'. Martin Sheen plays Tom, a wealthy American businessman, a 'boomer', i.e. someone who was born just after World War II, for whom the core values of life are making money and working to make that money.

Emilio Estevez plays Tom's son, Daniel. At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Tom and Daniel, just as Tom is driving Daniel to the airport in his lovely Jaguar car. They are arguing over what Daniel is going to do with his life. It is then that we discover that Daniel is flying to Spain to take part in 'The Way of St James, better known in Spanish as 'El Camino de Santiago', or simply 'The Camino'. A little while into the film, Daniel's father, Tom, gets the phone call to say that Daniel has died while making the pilgrimage. Tom make his way to Spain, where he identifies Daniel's body and is given the relics of Daniel's life. These include the accoutrements of the walking pilgrimage – a backpack, jeans, hiking boots and a rainjacket, a journal and some rosary beads. It is at this moment that something happens to Tom that makes him decide to make the pilgrimage for his son Daniel.

Salvation

So, salvation. What does it really mean? There are loads of things that we can say about salvation, but I'm going to share three with you today.

1.We might have a very small, narrow and reduced understanding of salvation which means to get into heaven when we die. This is the salvation that we might be worried about for our loved ones who have passed before us. We might be worried about them, or we might be very sure about them, or indeed we might not really know. There's nothing wrong with this, provided we understand it as merely one aspect of salvation, and not the be all and end all of salvation.

2.Another kind of salvation that we could have in mind is a the kind of idea that says if somebody has been saved, if they have experienced salvation, then they'll be really wealthy! This kind of salvation understands blessing in the sense of prosperity. So, we might be wondering where God is in the tough financial times! In a way, this is the God of Tom in our movie. Or, rather, God becomes reduced to money, prosperity, career and success.

3.The best understanding of salvation, the one that we find in the gospel this evening is a kind of salvation as a renewal, or a reconnection, or as a restoration. The blind man in the gospel is told by Jesus: “Go, your faith has saved you.” This tells us that faith, in Jesus, is fundamental to salvation, because it is through the encounter with Jesus that salvation in the fullest sense is achieved by Bartimaeus.

Jericho, Joshua and Jesus

The gospel passage for today is set on the outskirts of Jericho, one of the oldest cities in the world, and the city where the Israelites were led in to the Promised Land. They were led by Joshua – which would be like calling me Sean, instead of John. Joshua is old Hebrew for the name Jesus. Jesus means Joshua – both names mean 'one who saves'. For the first hearers of the gospel, this would have been obvious. So, for Bartimaeus, the bling beggar this 'one who saves' is: Jesus of Nazareth, Son of David, Jesus, Rabbuni, Master. For us, he is Lord, he is Son of God, he is the Christ, the anointed one. And this 'one who saves' offers us salvation too.

Conclusion

In short, then, salvation is to become fully alive, i.e. to become fully a part of the human community and the divine community. These two are fundamentally linked in Jesus of Nazareth, and so it is only in Jesus that we, that all of humanity can achieve the fullness of life that salvation is. The Church then, as the human and divine community of faith, is the core way that we have to encounter Jesus in and through our encounters with other people, with the Word of God and with the mysteries of faith, the Sacraments.

29 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 21 October 2012, Mark 10:35-45

It was with a great sense of joy last week that I heard of Sligo Rovers’ winning the league title for 2012. We all like to see the local team do well. Indeed, Sligo’s success in Gaelic football in recent years is also a source of joy for me, and I’m sure for you as well.

The story of the famous Glasgow football club, Celtic FC is fascinating. It was founded in 1887 by an Irish Marist Brother called Brother Walfrid. He began the club with the intention of using it as a means of fundraising to alleviate poverty among the poor immigrants, mostly Irish, living in Glasgow at the time. Specifically, his charity was called the ‘Poor Children’s Dinner Table’. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure that when I mentioned Celtic, that one of your first thoughts may have been the name of their so-called arch-rivals: Rangers. We imagine the world in this way. What gives Celtic their identity is that they are the ‘Catholic’ club, while Rangers are the ‘Protestant’ club. Identity is everything – but what happens when one side disappears? When we have no rival anymore, our identity can slip.

In a way, that’s what its like to be a Catholic in Ireland today. We could be identified as being ‘traditional’, ‘conservative’, ‘un-enlightened’, ‘stuck in the past’. We might even feel like this ourselves, even though we may come to Mass on a regular basis.

So, what does it mean to be a Catholic? Especially if we choose, carefully, not to define ourselves in terms of groups who are not Catholic. This is a difficult question to answer. When we think ‘Catholic’, in our mind we might compare it to being ‘Protestant’. Or, in our pluralistic and multicultural world, we imagine ourselves as not being a Hindu, or not being a Muslim, or whatever. So, if we cannot take refuge in the safe place of comparing ourselves to others, then, again: what does it mean to be Catholic?

Maybe it means that you are a good person. But, sure, there are people who are very good and are not Catholic. Maybe it means that you are a Christian. But, sure, there are people who are wonderful Christians and are not Catholic.

So, there are answers to this question, answers that may be regularly on our own lips that are kind of safe answers, but which do not really give us an insight into what being Catholic actually is.

My understanding, which I hope is based clearly on the Church’s understanding, is that being a Catholic means to be involved in the Catholic Church.

That means to be part of, a member of, the One Church of Christ. It means that my faith is not mine alone, but that rather, my faith, or, our faith is actually a participation in Christ’s faith, because Christ is the one human being who is completely faithful to his Father, to Our Father.

So, Our Father, God in heaven, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Moses, the God of Jesus Christ is One God. And, this One God sent his Son, the anointed One, to redeem us, which means to gather us together again into One Humanity in the Kingdom of God.

And so, this Sunday we celebrate Mission Sunday. This is the Sunday when we remember that the Church carries out the Mission of Christ to the World. And, because we are part of one humanity, broken, suffering and imperfect as it is, because by being human ourselves we already participate in one humanity, so we reach out to the poorer Churches and offer them some material support.

This really is a work of grace, because by being generous with what we have, by putting our money where our mouth is, our faith is made real and tangible. To be a Catholic is to be in solidarity with all of humanity – rich and poor alike.

On the 2nd January 1971, a disaster happened at Ibrox, the home of Rangers Football Club. It is known as the ‘Ibrox disaster’. 66 people lost their lives when people were crushed trying to exit the stadium after the game. By all accounts, it was a horrific incident.

The amazing thing is that before the end of that month, on 27 January 1971, a fundraiser match was played at Scotland’s national stadium, Hampden Park. The teams were: Scotland X1 and Rangers/Celtic Select.

The Rangers/Celtic Select team was captained by John Greig and included Bobby Charlton and George Best of Manchester United, Peter Bonetti of Chelsea, Jardine, Smith, Henderson, Johnston, McCloy and Conn of Rangers and Celtic were represented by Murdoch, McNeill, Johnstone, Brogan and Hood.

The Scotland X1 team was taken from Jim Cruikshank (Hearts), Pat Stanton (Hibernian), Joe Harper and Bobby Clark (Aberdeen), John O'Hare and Archie Gemmill (Derby County), Bobby Moncur (Newcastle), Charlie Cooke (Chelsea), Tommy McLean (kilmarnock), Peter Lorimer (Leeds United), Tommy Gemmell and Davie Hay (Celtic), and Ron McKinnon, Colin Stein and Sandy Jardine (Rangers).

Celtic manager Jock Stein said:

I would like to think there could be no greater silent memorial to the disaster victims than the joining together of the fans here at Hampden tonight to tumble the barriers which have besmirched Scottish football so often in the past.

Rangers manager Willie Waddell said:

This was a Rangers commitment, but we were not left on our own. Celtic rallied to our side immediately. Bobby Charlton personnified the willingness of his fellow footballers when he said "I'm thrilled to be asked. Just tell me when you want me and where."

Sometimes it is in suffering that we are brought together into the One Humanity imagined for us by Christ Jesus who suffered and died, that all may be one.

(Source for information: http://www.celticprogrammesonline.com/PROGRAMME%20COVERS/7071/scotlandXI/scotlandXI7071h.htm )

28 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 14 October 2012, Mark 10:17-30

The Rich Young Man

A few years ago, Ryan Tubridy was interviewing Amy Huberman on the Late Late. Amy was just about to get married to Brian O'Driscoll, and so the talk was all about marriage and having babies.

There was a short exchange between Ryan and another woman on the show that night, where they talked about how proud they were of their small children, especially when they finally went to the toilet in the potty! They both remembered also how delighted their young child was to display the contents of their potty to them!

To some degree, all of us look to our parents and other important people in life. We crave their love and affection, we want them to be happy with us. That is why we present our potty to them, and show them what we have achieved. There is nothing altogether wrong with this.

However, especially those of you who have children; what if your ten year old child, or your teenage child, or even your grown up child were to continue all through life literally showing you their potty? To say that it would be a sign that they had not moved on would be an understatement! Showing our parents our potty may be a stage of development, but it is definitely one that we don't want to stay at.

Today's gospel, the story of the rich young man, has been presented at different times as a story of the need for justice, a story of how to grow in the spiritual life by giving away what we have achieved; it is a story of the arrogance of youth: "I have kept all these from my earliest days."

Most of all, however, it is a story about recognition. The rich young man wants to be recognised as having done everything, achieved everything, gained everything, kept every rule, ticked every box. He wants the 'good master', Jesus, to be really impressed by him, to grant him eternal life because he deserves it. And Jesus looks at the rich young man, lovingly, in a way he looks at this man, presenting his potty, and he tells him that he must develop, he must grow, he must learn still a better way.

All of us are tempted, in our own way, to display to God how good we have been. And God looks at us, and loves us, and calls us forward to the fullness of life.

27 Sunday Ordinary Time, B, 7 October 2012, Mark 10:2-16

http://www.chooselife2012.ie/

Choose Life!
Right throughout my life, I have been enticed by the 'A Grade.' I always wanted to do well academically. That is one of the reasons that I am back studying. I want to understand more, develop more, be more human, more alive, and to grow in passion for the preaching of the gospel. What one of us doesn't want to thrive? Survival is important, but once we are managing to survive, another impulse comes: the impulse of thriving in life.

Surviving and Thriving: A subtle lie
One version of 'thriving' in life that rose to prominence during the twentieth century was the push to 'thrive' that arose in Germany under Hitler. The people were barely surviving, and Hitler convinced the people that the root cause of all their problems, the reason why they were only surviving and not thriving was because of the Jew, the Communist, or the Homosexual in their midst. We know, now, that this is a very basic lie. But, before it was discovered as a lie, six million people had died as a result of this lie. And the lie is subtle – for you to thrive, somebody else, maybe even other people, must not survive. Another version of the lie pervades our society that says in order for me to thrive, others must barely survive. Another version of this lie is in the subtle thinking that says all foreigners must leave because there isn't enough work for us Irish. For me to thrive, others must not thrive. This is a lie.

Surviving and Thriving: Living life to the full!
The Church's understanding, i.e. what the Church teaches us, stands this lie on its head. The Church teaches us that in order to thrive, we must first survive; to be fully alive, we must first live. And the 'we' here is not limited to me, or us, but rather the 'we' that is all of humanity. I cannot really thrive unless all of humanity is at least surviving, and that they are on the way to thriving.

We can apply this 'surviving and thriving' model to many of the difficulties that are raised in our world today. It is like a 'rule of thumb' for some difficult moral questions, such as:

1. For our society to thrive, like other societies appear to be thriving, do we not need to bring in the same laws as they have? Or, to be more exact, because other countries have legislated for abortion – for the deliberate killing of the unborn – do we not need to do the same? Isn't that what progress is?

2. So, for us to thrive as a country, must not some die? This is the same idea that I proposed earlier – for me to thrive, or, for us to thrive, must some not survive?

The answer for us as Catholics and as Christians is that no-one need die for us to thrive. In fact, our thriving is bound up with the thriving of others. It is together that we thrive.

Divorce – the Gospel teaching
Today's gospel is one of those gospel passages that can grate on our contemporary ears. I think that this is the case because the gospel is written in a particular way – it is a dramatic story. It is like a three-act play. The first act is the scene with the Pharisees testing Jesus about the Law. The second act is "Back in the house" and the third act seems to move outside again.

Divorce and Discipleship
Those tough lines in the middle – about divorce and adultery, they are given "Back in the house", so they are 'Top Secret', for your eyes only, if you will. Jesus brings the disciples into the house – the house here is a metaphor for the Church – he brings them into the house, into the parlour we might say, and it is only from that inside place that the teaching of Jesus makes sense. It makes very little sense to us – until we recognise that the disciples questioned Jesus about this. Struggling with A Grade Christianity is like competing in the Olympics of life. It isn't easy. So, asking questions is good. Asking questions of the 'house', i.e. the Church, is good because it means that we are in the same company as the disciples!

Humanae Vitae – The Culture of Life
The contemporary Catholic tradition of love, care and respect for human life began decisively with Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical 'Humanae Vitae'. Here, Pope Paul VI carefully re-affirmed the Church's respect for the mystery of human life, relationship and procreation. Building on the tradition of Humanae Vitae, the Church under Pope John Paul II published 'Donum Vitae' in 1987, and 'Evangelium Vitae' in 1995.

Humanae Vitae (E) – "On Human Life" which deals with regulating birth
Donum Vitae (CDF) – "Respect for Life" which deals with the Church's teaching on IVF
Evangelium Vitae (E) – "The Gospel of Life" which deals with Murder, Abortion, Euthanasia

You can see that the common word here is: 'Vitae', which means 'Life'. In a way, these documents all deal with 'Life' issues.  As such, the Church's tradition is well established that "from the moment of conception (until the moment of natural death), every human life is beautiful, every human life is precious, and every human life is sacred." (Irish Bishops, Day for Life, 2012)

Further Notes:

The Day for Life – celebrated each year since 2001 here in Ireland
Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae in 1995 asked that a 'Day for Life' be celebrated each year that would highlight these issues.
Day for Life 2012 – Choose Life!
Day for Life 2011 – A call to solidarity and hope in difficult times
Day for Life 2010 – The meaning of Christian death
Day for Life 2009 – Suicide
Day for Life 2008 – Mental Health
Day for Life 2007 – The sacredness of Human Life
Day for Life 2006 – Celebrating People with Disabilities

So, this Sunday the Bishops of Ireland, our bishops and leaders in faith, are asking us to engage in a number of ways:
1. Pray the 'Choose Life' prayer each day from today until the Feast day of All Saints on Tuesday November.
2. Visit the website: http://www.chooselife2012.ie/
3. Get a pamphlet
4. Get involved in discussions! Make your view heard.