4th Sunday of Easter - Year B

Acts 4:8-12; 1 John 3:1-2; John 10:11-18

The Holy Father is the shepherd of the universal Church. Every bishop is the shepherd of his diocese. Every parish priest is the shepherd of his parish. Parents are the shepherds of their children.

Being a shepherd is not easy; being a good shepherd is even more difficult. There are those pastures which have to be sought out; pastures where the grass is rich and nourishing. There are those sheep, so difficult to keep together, so difficult to keep on the right track. And then there are those wolves, so cunning, so persistent, and so pitiless.

A shepherd is rightly judged according to how much he will give of himself to lead the sheep to good pastures and to keep the sheep safe from dangers. A good shepherd is ready to give his for his sheep.

Let’s say those words again: A good shepherd is ready to give his life …

Once, at a meeting of parishioners, we were sharing about love and how we express it. In the midst of the many comments being made it was suggested that love has a voracious appetite. This soon found general approval. Yes, love is always seeking to express itself - love is hungry to love.

Then the question was asked: What is the greatest expression of love? What is the point at which love must say: I can do nothing more than this?

Surprisingly the answer was a longish time coming. The question seemed to puzzle the little group, as though it were a trick question or as though it required an unexpected ‘clever’ answer. Even when one of the group eventually said ‘To give our life’, there was no immediate nod of understanding.

Perhaps we are not as aware of the implications of true love as we imagine, or as we should be. In my day, about fifty-five years or so ago it was common for us to have stories read in primary and secondary school of courageous martyrs, men, women and children who happily gave their lives for the Faith, for their deep love of the Master.

And if giving one’s life was the furthest expression of love then all those lesser sufferings like – abstinence from sex before or outside of marriage, having more children than planned, or dying a natural death rather than a chemically induced one – had an immediate context in which we could see them as only partial expressions of perfect love.

In other words, if we are called to love to the point of death, how could we legitimately refuse to do the lesser? Or again, if we are not prepared to give our life for the beloved, why should we give anything?

In refusing to give our life we become the ‘hired man’ of today’s gospel: The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees a wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep.

To ‘give one’s life’ is not always a matter of a dramatic death as those suffered by the martyrs. The giving may be a slow ‘spending’, a white martyrdom over the course of many years. Parents are called to spend their lives for their children, priests for their people, marriage partners for one another, and all of us for Christ and his Church.

Nevertheless, when a shepherd refuses to give his life for the flock in his charge we may be sure that one, or many, or all of the sheep will suffer, if not actually forfeit their lives, though this, too, is possible. What, for example, are we to say about the estimated 100,000 infants killed in the womb each year in Australia?

Many historians claim the Church flourished from 312 AD onwards because Constantine was converted and then approved Christianity as an official religion. Pope John Paul II, however, assures us that it was not Constantine’s approval but ‘the blood of the martyrs’ of the preceding centuries which brought this growth to the true Faith. Just as the Church herself was born of the blood of her founder, Jesus Christ, so it continues to thrive through the willingness of her members to spend themselves in her name.

We are members of the flock of Christ and he is our shepherd, indeed, our good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. But, as we have already seen, we, too, are shepherds. We are responsible for one another and especially for one another’s eternal destiny. If the Master calls us to ‘love one another as I have loved you’ then, surely, we are called also to shepherd one another as he has shepherded us.

Bishops must shepherd their diocese, priests must shepherd their parishes, parents must shepherd their children – and all of us must be prepared to lay down our life for our sheep.

Anzac Day - 2012

On this special day we join with the whole nation in lauding the courage, generosity and loving sacrifice of our fallen soldiers. As Australians we do this well.

There will not be many here whose families have not been touched by the First and Second World Wars, as well as the more recent conflicts around the globe.

None of us wants to fall into the trap of glorifying war because we all know it is a dirty, grubby tragedy for both sides; for those who are unfortunate enough to be led into unjust aggression as well as for those who are called upon to defend against it.

But we must never forget the fallen and their legacy to us of freedom and democracy. For the fallen of all sides in a conflict there are no winners. It is we, their descendants who inherit the fruit of their sacrifice.

Today we show our gratitude.

Firstly, and perhaps most simply, by remembering.

From time to time we may rightfully criticise the secular media but each year at this time the media shine in bringing us words and images which enable every Australian to remember not only the wars but also the battles, and the heroic struggles of our Australian soldiers.

Secondly, we show our gratitude by publicly honouring them in appropriate ways. It is important to attend the dawn service and the Anzac Day march. We cannot allow ourselves to become so preoccupied with the demands of our own daily routines that we become careless and even ignorant of the personal sacrifices made for our sake. We owe our fallen; they have given us their very lives.

Thirdly, we show our gratitude by wisely valuing and living our hard won freedom and the growth it makes possible as Australian people. Freedom to elect governments, freedom to remove governments, freedom of speech, of association and, most importantly, of worship. We must use wisely what the fallen have given their lives to preserve. And, in our turn, we must be ready to give our lives for it.

Fourthly, we show our gratitude to our fallen heroes by praying for the repose of their souls. This is something we, as Catholics, are very good at. Each man and woman has an immortal soul which will one day come into the presence of God and be judged. Each of the fallen needs our prayers. Each of the fallen needs the redeeming sacrifice of Christ.

They died for an earthly city and we pray, as in the Collect, that our Saviour, who died to make possible entry into an eternal city may: Resurrect them in our true homeland, where he will: perfect that peace for which they longed and died.

May the souls of all our Australian fallen, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

3rd sunday of Easter - Year B

Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; 1 John 2:1-5; Luke 24:35-48

The question of the existence of God is fundamental to the human journey. It used to be a question whose answer was taken for granted: of course God exists!

Men and women in past ages from every nation on the earth have raised their heads to a supreme being. They gave expression to their faith in many and varied ways. These included offerings of grain and livestock and even humans.

The gods of the pagans were sometimes savage and bloodthirsty and shared human feelings like jealousy and lust. Others were more sublime and mysterious and benign. Whether their god was a spirit living in a landscape or an animal or the sun, or whether it was a more cosmic force drawing humans into its power, or whether it was just the spirit of the ancestors - it is an historical fact that human beings seem to be born with a natural ‘inclination’, ‘desire’, ‘recognition’ of a being who reigns over all other beings. To deny the god(s) was generally to invite some severe punishment or even death.

Today there are many who deny the existence of God. They call themselves atheists, ‘a-theists’. They are a relatively new phenomenon in human history. Also there are agnostics, who are not ready to accept the reality of God, nor are they ready to deny the possibility. Many people live a ‘de facto’ atheism or agnosticism in their daily lives. The majority of the human race are strongly theist – believers in God.

We have to admit that people who try to ‘prove’ the existence of God as one would prove the existence of something material are doomed to failure. Likewise, I have not met any convincing atheists.

Sometimes, like Kenny, they will say something like ‘If God should appear to me I’ll give him 110% of my attention.’ Others say, ‘Show me your God and I’ll believe.’ That seems plausible enough. However, we might challenge them, ‘First show me your self.’

God is not to be ‘proved’ in that way. God is not a problem to be solved. But he can be known with certainty – to a certain point.

There used to be an attitude in the Church that anyone who did not accept Jesus as the Son of God was evil, or stubbornly rejecting of God, and therefore to be blamed, even ‘punished’. This attitude has almost gone. Today we recognise the freedom of each person to accept or reject God and we do not cause disputes over the non belief of others because we now understand that faith, Christian faith, is a gift freely given and to be freely received. It cannot be forced on anyone.

A Moslem family in the hospital where I worked once told me about their faith. They said, ‘Allah revealed to Mohammed the truth of the Qu’ran and Mohammed wrote it down and it must be accepted.’

I replied ‘So this is what you believe?’ They answered emphatically, ‘No, it is true!’

I find this a very dangerous attitude. Christians say, ‘This is our faith, we believe it to be true, and we are ready to die for it. But you are free to deny it.’

It seems to me that in order to believe in God we must first believe in the world of the spirit, the invisible. We must believe that reality does not finish at the ‘knowable’ or the ‘measurable’. We need to believe that reality also continues beyond what we can see and hear.

We know that order rules the universe and that ‘order’ therefore has a source. We know that something cannot come from nothing and so we believe in a creator. We know also that deep within every human there is a longing for completion and perfection, a longing for perfect peace, perfect joy, eternal life and most of humanity believes that there is One who means to fulfil this longing.

We call this being God. We are ‘pointed’, ‘oriented’ to the beyond by this hope within us and either it is a cruel trick of evolution, or the good gift of a good God, which he means one day to satisfy. Most humans, therefore, look at the world around them and say ‘God’. A few look at the world around them and say ‘accident’.

All this is not a matter for argument. Those who believe must remain humble and grateful because the moment a person believes in God everything in life is suddenly different.

We can know with certainty that there is a God who created this world and we can know certain things about this God. He is all-powerful, he is eternal, he is all-knowing. But there is a point beyond which we cannot go.

To reject the existence of God is to reject an essential quality of being human.

When we come to believe we begin a journey of searching for God – ‘Who are you? Show yourself to me, I want to know you.’

This quest would be doomed to failure if God had not also said, on his part, ‘I want you to know me, I will show myself to you.’

We Christians believe that God has shown himself to mankind. We believe he has revealed to us how the world was made and why it was made. We believe God has revealed to us the meaning of our lives, that he has created us to be happy with him, already here on earth, and to share eternal happiness with him in heaven. This is, we believe, our ultimate destiny.

We believe that God’s greatest and final revelation is made in Jesus Christ, who is man, and also God. That Jesus is the face of the invisible God.

Listen again to the Entrance Antiphon: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of his name; proclaim his glorious praise, alleluia.

Easter Vigil - Year B

Romans 6:2-11; Mark 16:1-7

The truths of our faith are as startling as they are simple. What, for example, is there not to understand about the foundational truth: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gn 1:1) or: God fashioned man of dust from the soil (Gn 2:7)? Theologians may debate the finer details and hidden depths of these statements but you and I know what they mean – There is a God. He created the universe. He created us.

The history of salvation can be mapped out, step by step, in these clear, unambiguous statements. You must not eat of it … . She took some … and ate it. God expelled him from the garden of Eden… (Gn 3).

Understand me right, I am not saying the scriptures are simple; we all know that’s not true. What I do assert is that God did not make a profound academic understanding of his word a prerequisite for salvation; the basics are crystal clear.

• You must love the Lord your God.
• Love your neighbour as yourself.
• Everybody who believes has eternal life.
• Love your enemies.
• Do not be afraid.
• This is my body.
• Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Perhaps the passion readings of the last few days are the most ancient New Testament texts and the clearest of them all. Anyone with an understanding heart will agonise in the company of this innocent man and recognise his part, his guilt, his sins in the atrocities he suffered.

But tonight, after the arduous journey of Lent it is finally time to hear another simple truth, a truth so astounding it changes everything we ever though we knew. It is the message of the angel: He has risen! The tomb is empty: He is not here.

In recent years there have been ‘so-called’ theologians debating whether Jesus rose in the flesh or just ‘spiritually’ (whatever they mean by that). I guess that’s why the angel made sure the women took good note that the body was no longer in the tomb: See, here is the place where they laid him. He is not here. His body has gone. He has risen!

If that is where this wondrous event ended we might be tempted to say ‘That’s nice for Jesus. God has raised him from the dead. That’s absolutely wonderful!’

However, there is another bombshell of truth which follows the one we have been marvelling at. Every time we say: He has risen we must immediately add: and so have we!

The resurrection of Jesus is about us! In his death we have died, in his rising we have been brought back to life. One day our tomb will be empty; one day the angel will say ‘He is not here; she is not here. He is risen! She is risen!

In anticipation of the wondrous day let us say: Alleluia! Alleluia!