Category: Ordinary Time Year A

Sometimes, I wish the First Reading of our Liturgy of The Word were a last read!

By then, we’re settled; the noise of a community gathering has settled, songbooks have been put away, the order in which the children ought to sit between Mum and Dad has been determined, the money for the collection has been found, and the nose has been cleared of mucus one last time.

We are now ready to listen.

This Sunday’s First Reading is taken from the Book of Wisdom (Wis. 6: 12 – 16).

In this book, and indeed the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom is portrayed as feminine.

In today’s reading, we read the lines, “Watch for her early and you will have no trouble; you will find her sitting at your gates. “

“You will find her sitting at your gates” – a superb image!

And where do you find a gate? Usually outside of the house you live in! It is the entranceway.

The house is frequently an image of safety, security, and assuredness.

Wisdom is found before you are embraced within this place of shelter and protection.

In 1 Kings, the young Solomon asks Yahweh for an understanding mind to discern between good and evil. Our English translation does the Hebrew a disservice; the Hebrew translates as “a listening heart”.

Wisdom is a matter not only of the mind but of the heart, like a woman’s wisdom. It is born out of suffering, as a woman bears a child. It shows a way through the darkness, the way a woman stands at the window holding a lamp.

“Her ways are ways of pleasantness,” says Solomon, then adding, just in case there should be any lingering question as to her gender, “and all her paths are peace” (3:17).

To encounter Wisdom, I suggest we should leave the warmth of home and sit at the gate – and, guess what, she will be there waiting.

At the time of Jesus, the Law consisted of some 613 commandments.

The question of which commandment was the greatest was frequently asked and argued by rabbis.

Today’s Gospel has Jesus being asked the same question. However, rather than replying with one, Jesus responded by naming two as if they were one.

‘You shall love the Lord your God’ is found in the Book of Deuteronomy (6:4), and ‘you shall love you neighbour as yourself’ is found in the Book of Leviticus (19:18).

The image I find most helpful is the image of my breathing – I need to breathe both in and out to live.

Once upon a time, in the desert of Egypt, there lived an old abbot named Barnabas. Around him lived a small coterie of fellow monks.

Christmas was approaching, and the monks met to see how they ought to prepare for the approaching feast and decided to fast for the seven days before the feast day.

Each monk went off to their cell to fast and pray.

About the middle of the week, two itinerant monks came to visit Abbot Barnabas.

Seeing that they were very hungry after their journey, the Abbot cooked a little vegetable stew for them.

To make them feel at ease, he took a little of the stew himself.

The other monks saw the smoke rising from the abbot’s cell.

This could mean only one thing – he had lit a fire to cook some food, which meant he had broken the solemn fast.

They were shocked.

Together, as one body, they went to confront him.

Seeing judgement in their eyes, the abbot asked, “What crime have I committed that makes you look at me like this?”

“You have broken the solemn fast,” they answered.

“So I have, “he replied.

“I have broken the commandment you have made, however, in sharing my food with these brothers of ours, I have kept the commandment of God that we ought love one another.”

On hearing this the monks grew silent, and returned to their own cell, humbled but wiser.

In November 1995 John Barlow was convicted and sentenced to a non-parole prison term of 14 years at a third trial after two previous juries were unable to convict him.

I attended some of the court sessions, and one of my observations was that those giving witness appeared as much on trial as the person being held.

On occasions, individuals would be thoroughly examined by both the prosecuting attorney and defence attorney.

Being in the witness box was not a comfortable place to be!

Pope Francis’ message for World Mission Sunday this year reflects on the theme: “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).

Does he desire us to be “uncomfortable” Christians?

Almost 50 years ago, St Paul VI wrote,

“Above all the Gospel must be proclaimed by witness.

“Take a Christian or a handful of Christians who, in the midst of their own community, show a capacity for understanding and acceptance, their sharing of life and destiny with other people, their solidarity with the efforts of all for whatever is noble and good.

“Let us suppose that, in addition, they radiate in an altogether simple and unaffected way their faith in values that go beyond current values, and their hope in something that is not seen and that one would not dare to imagine.

“Through this wordless witness, these Christians stir up irresistible questions in the hearts of those who see how they live:

• • • • Why are they like this?
      • Why do they live in this way?
      • What or who is it that inspires them?
      • Why are they in our midst?

“Such a witness is already a silent proclamation of the Good News and a very powerful and effective one.” – (Evangelization in the Modern World, Pope Paul VI, 1975; No. 21)

Giving witness to Christ today requires precisely that we build communities that are wide enough to hold our differences.

What we need is

not a new technique,

but a new sanctity;

not a cooler dress,

but a more inclusive embrace;

not some updating of the gospel to make it more acceptable to the world,

but a more courageous radiating of its wide compassion;

not some new secret that catches peoples’ curiosity,

but a way of following Christ that can hold more of the tensions of our world in proper balance so that everyone, irrespective of temperament and ideology, will find themselves better understood and embraced by what we hold most dear.