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23rd Sunday in Ordinary TimeSt Mary's Cathedral, Sydney By + George Pell Following Christ is not cost-free, and in moments of trial it is not even possible at a cut-price, but the faith of most people will not last long if Jesus is seen mainly as a burden or a bore. One young woman, a university student, who recently spent a year overseas, recounted to me how one of her peers rejoiced because that meant she would not have to go to Mass for the year (a practice her parents encouraged)! She was not living with Christians, but she did continue to worship regularly. Jesus often quoted the Old Testament prophet Isaiah, using his teachings or building on them. Isaiah reminded the faint hearted (they were around then as well as today) that God was coming to help them, they should not be afraid. God was also coming to punish their enemies, the evil-doers; and we too believe that God will come in judgement to administer definitive justice, reward the good, the faithful, the oppressed and punish the war-lords, the drug-runners, the oppressors of the poor, the pornographers - perhaps especially the purveyors of soft porn because that is much more widespread - who are undermining marriage and the family. Isaiah explained that when God comes to his people, particularly through the Messiah, then the deaf would hear, the dumb speak, the blind see and the lame leap like deers. In fact the personal and social consequences of God’s visitation would be like streams of gushing water in the desert. There is no doubt that Jesus understood his miracle cures of the deaf and the dumb as fulfilling this Messianic expectation. But these cures were not simply an excuse for some supernatural magic; they were spectacular examples of God’s healing power at work, of the benefits Christ brought to his followers and of the benefits the followers of Christ should bring to others. Another revolutionary change, not always practised perfectly, which Christian teachings brought about in society was to treat all peoples as equal; that in fact the poor received preferential treatment from God. This was shocking in a society where forty per cent could be slaves; where the gap between rich and poor was phenomenal. The second reading from St. James, the bluntest speaker in the New Testament apart from John the Baptist, condemns explicitly religious leaders who gives the best seats to the best dressed. Generally today at the level of language we Christians acknowledge our responsibilities to the poor, although our practice is indifferent and there are many disputes about how to help the disadvantaged in the best way. Good education for disadvantaged children is certainly one part of the answer; but that is another story. In different ways priests have struggled to avoid James’ condemnation. A good friend of mine, a priest and university chaplain in England now dead, was famous (legitimately) for his support and hospitality for down and outs, drug addicts etc. The assistant priest could return at night to find his bed had been given to someone in distress. This priest had been well-educated, was well connected, and had fought in the Second World War with one of the elite British regiments. Some of his friends murmured that unless you were an aristocrat or a dero or drug addict, you were lower down his list. Certainly as a student I breakfasted at his table with an archbishop and a tramp!! This priest brought Christ’s life to thousands and certainly would have passed St. James’ test! Today is Father’s Day. The Lord made the deaf hear and the dumb speak. On this Father’s Day we should pray that more and more people will be able to hear the Judaeo-Christian teaching on marriage and family, because these doctrines are life-giving to both parents and children. A few are pushing for same sex marriages. No longer do people speak of “shacking up together” or de-facto couples. Even married couples can speak of one another as partners, not husband and wife, not spouses. It is a time of confusion. Father’s Day in particular provides a good opportunity to remember just how important good fathers are to the well-being of their children. For all those fortunate enough to have their father alive it is an opportunity to say “thanks”. Until recently it was thought that in the first couple of years of a child’s life the involvement of his or her father was not that important. At this early age, so the argument ran, the child is only capable of forming one strong attachment, and that will be with the person most involved in caring for the child at this stage – usually the mother. New research challenges this assumption and proves what every family with a few children knows from daily experience: that very young children are capable of forming numerous attachments and that these attachments to mother, father, brothers and sisters are crucial to the child’s sense of security and happiness. One family I know has an eleven week old girl. While she always gives Mum and Dad approving looks, she reserves her biggest smiles and her happiest babbles for her big sister and her two bold brothers. There is no doubt watching this that the work of forming multiple attachments is well underway with this little girl. Because these attachments, especially to parents, are so important to the development of happy and confident children, we have to do all that we can to strengthen the source of them: the family. Let us pray today especially for fathers, that they will be good husbands and parents, that they will be nourished by prayer, strengthened by their Christian faith and that they will be examples to their wife and children by listening to the doctrines of Christ and then teaching it by word and especially example. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
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