Archbishop of Sydney

11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Ex 19:2-6; Rom 5:6-11; Mt 9:38-10:3

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
15/6/2008

Whenever this text about the shortage of vocations from Matthew’s gospel returns for Sunday Mass in the three year cycle I point out that Our Lord was speaking nearly two thousand years ago when his followers and their leaders, the more active labourers in the harvest, were much more outnumbered than we are today.  The number of Jesus’ followers would then have been much smaller than the numbers in the Salvation Army in Australian society today; they were a tiny ginger group, a very small amount of yeast in the dough.  But what a difference they have made over the centuries.

May I lapse into the Australian vernacular to illustrate this point further? What matters is not the size of the dog in the fight but the amount of fight in the dog! And we are involved in a struggle.  First of all within our own hearts as we struggle to subdue our unruly appetites, our selfishness and aggression, but also in the wider society as we struggle to retain and expand the public space for faith, religious practice and goodness.  We cannot realistically expect most people to be moral heroes without a lot of help from their friends!

Our Lord did not believe that those who did not know God well were somehow better off (without all those Jewish commandments!).  He knew well that those outsiders were regularly harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus already had a number of followers who were called disciples, men and women who had accepted to follow the religious discipline taught by the Lord, and from them he chose twelve male leaders or apostles.  Apostle means an emissary, someone who is sent; a term derived from the Greek word to send.

The apostles were sent out to teach, to continue Christ’s own mission.  “As the Father has sent me” he explained “so I send you” (Jn 20:21), adding that “he who receives you receives me” (Mt 10:40)

This high theology and exalted understanding of the apostles comes from the New Testament itself and from Christ’s own directives.  Occasionally people who do not know the New Testament or choose to ignore its teaching claim that Church order was developed after Christ and the New Testament writings.  This is basically untrue as today’s gospel helps to demonstrate, although there have been developments over the centuries.  The apostles did not wear a mitre or carry a crozier and would not have worn a zucchetto, unless the Jews at that time did so; but the apostles were instituted by the Lord himself.

The framework of the Catholic Church community is essentially apostolic, because the Church is built on the foundation of the apostles, commissioned by Christ.  The Church community in every age is obliged to preserve and explain the tradition of teaching inherited from the apostles, what we know as the deposit of faith; and the Church continues to be taught, sanctified and guided by the successors of the apostles, the bishops united around the successor of St. Peter, the pope and bishop of Rome.

As a successor of the apostles the bishop need not be a professional theologian, but he must strive regularly to teach and explain Church doctrine and ensure that it is not polluted, damaged or destroyed.

The treasures of the Church nearly always come in earthen vessels.  When people complain to me about the quality of the clergy, whether they be cardinals, bishops or priests, I always point out that the Church can only choose her leaders from the laity! We cannot raid the choirs of angels to seek recruits for leadership from them!

It was similar with the apostles.  Peter and Andrew were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee and probably Peter was one of the most successful fishermen on the lake.  Remember how he pointed out to the Lord that they had left everything to follow him!

James and John, another set of brothers, were fiery, known as the “sons of thunder” and remembered also today as possessing an ambitious mother, who wanted the best places in Jesus’ kingdom for them.  Matthew, the author of the gospel extract today, was originally a despised tax collector; Thomas was a doubter, almost to the end; Simon the Zealot was an ex-revolutionary, probably committed originally to the violent expulsion of the Romans, while Judas Iscariot, a capable man and a thief went on to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.  He eventually recognised his guilt and suicided in despair.  The apostles were a mixed lot, slow to understand like us.

Bishops are regularly called upon to either advise or actually appoint people to leadership positions.  Sometimes these work out and occasionally they don’t; or at least not as well as we would hope.  I console myself that one of Our Lord’s twelve appointments did not work out as well as anticipated!

Let us pray for vocations, for people to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.  While most of us clergy cannot cure the sick (although our hospitals do, as they also care for lepers), and we cannot raise the dead, we do promise eternal life at our funerals and we do remit sin and fight against evil, even if we rarely exorcize.  So too we are prohibited from selling the sacraments.

God’s work needs to be done and He calls men and women to lead in various ways, especially in the pagan territory of Australia.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.