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33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our Sunday Gospel is familiar to many of us. (Matthew 25: 14 – 30)

It is headed as ‘The Parable of the Talents’ and is in many Gospel editions.

It includes the line, “But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.(v. 18)

TradeMe is New Zealand’s largest online auction and classifieds website, where you can bid for everything from a pair of socks to a holiday house! The site was founded in 1999 by a young New Zealand entrepreneur, Sam Morgan. Morgan sold the enterprise in 2006 for $700 million dollars!

One of the more notable auctions happened in May 2009. The advertisement read, “Buy a Tractor and get a 20-acre farm for free.” Purchase of the tractor did come with one rather unusual added feature: a farm, the 8.1h block in the Catlins was an added bonus for whoever wins the tractor auction.

TradeMe lists has one of its busiest times of the year being immediately after Christmas – the online site is flooded with unwanted Christmas presents!

Lawnmowers, hair dryers, air fryers, cookware set, electric razors – the list is endless!

So, when does a present become a gift? When does it cease to hold the attribute of giftedness? When can it be hidden in the garden?

Have you ever held onto a gift, not because of any need you have for the gift but rather because of the one who has given you the gift!

Each time you open the cardboard and espy the unneeded blender, or perhaps open the wardrobe and see the bathroom robe, which is not your colour – memories of the one who gave you the gift flood the memory and the heart.

I suggest this is the true purpose of the gift – to re-member.

When my God has flooded me with the gift of words of the writer, or the palette of the artist, or the green fingers of the gardener, then these words, colours and green fingers offer me the opportunity to remember and to sing as the Psalmist sings:

“They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.” (19:10)

The intriguing by-line which accompanies this image reads, “Must have kitchen tools: 10 amazing kitchen tools to make your life easy.”

If only life could, indeed, be made easy through the purchase of kitchen tools?!!

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32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The illustration is a painting by Charles Goldie titled “Memories”.
The subject is Ina te Papatahi, a Nga Puhi Chieftainess. Painted in 1906, the painting is housed at the Auckland Art Gallery.

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.

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31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

There is a castle that stands on an elevation overlooking beautiful woodlands and a lake. It dominates the surrounding countryside.

Though it hasn’t been lived in for the best part of a hundred years, it still seems to be in good shape – from the outside at least.

Not a stone appears to be missing.

Its stone walls, turrets, towers, and buttresses are all intact and give it an impressive appearance.

But just step inside the castle, and you will see a completely different picture.

Inside, it is a complete shambles.

There are piles of fallen masonry and plaster everywhere. The main roof is missing, and so are most of the ceilings and floors.

Of course, there is not a stick of furniture to be found.

The big fireplace is empty.

The building is little more than a shell.

This Sunday’s First Reading from the prophet Malachi is strident. He begins,

“And now, priests, this warning is for you”. And he continues, “ But you, you have strayed from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your teaching.”

The quote causes me to ask,

“Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.”(Mt 23: 5 – 7).

The photo of a working group at a recent Synod in Rome.                                                Does wearing a red or purple hat provide more power when engaged in conversation?
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All Saints Day

Billy O’Leary was seven and lived in a very small village miles from anywhere and anyone.

The village had a general store which sold just about everything, a small school, and a small Church.

Billy’s father was the teacher at the school, the only teacher, so Billy use to say his father was the Headteacher.

One day, Billy’s father had to travel to the city for business reasons and invited Billy to travel with him.

Billy was excited for two reasons: he had heard his parents talk of the city and yet had no idea where it was, and second, it meant travelling on the train, which Billy had never done.

The day arrived, and Billy presented himself at breakfast in his Sunday best. He and his father walked to the train station and duly caught the train.

Billy sat by the window and watched cows, sheep, corn, and maize whizzing by.

When his father had finished his business, he asked Billy if there were anything he would like to do.

Now, back at school,  Fr O’Grady from the Church had talked to the class about St Brendan’s Cathedral and had shown pictures of the Cathedral in this city, so he asked his father whether they could go and look inside.

So off they went.

Now St Brendan’s was a very, very, very old cathedral, built when in some countries there were still kings and queens and princes and princesses and knights in armour and ladies in waiting.

Inside, the cathedral was dark and cold and kind of spooky.

Billy was slightly scared, and a shiver ran through his body, so he held his father’s hand tight as they walked around.

The walls inside were very high; at the top there were stained glass windows all the way around.

Each window had a saint’s name.

Some Billy knew: St Patrick, of course, the twelve apostles, and St Brendan.

He had never heard of others like St Finbar, St Brigid and St Ciarán.

An amazing thing happened as he walked around looking at all the windows.

Outside, the clouds broke, and the sun streamed through the stained-glass windows, and suddenly, the inside of the church was bathed in light.

Billy let go of his father’s hand and walked confidently on his own.

The following day at school, Fr O’Grady from the town Church came to the school to prepare the children for the coming feast of All Saints.

He asked the children, “Does anyone know what a saint is?”

Upshot Billy’s hand and he waved it about with enthusiasm.

Fr O’Grady could not help but notice the enthusiastic waving, and besides, there was no other hand raised seeking the priest’s attention.

“Yes, Billy, do you know what a saint is? Tell us now.”

“Father,” spoke Billy with confidence, “it is someone who lets the sun in and lights up the whole Church.”

(If you want to, you may spell the word either sun or Son.)