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Low Sunday – April 19, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The disciples are exactly the same as us; in today’s Gospel account we find that the disciples are afraid and have locked themselves away in a room. Now they are hearing that Jesus is alive from the dead; if it’s true, what will He have to say to them? Perhaps they are thinking that Jesus might have good reason to come back to the disciples in a foul mood: ‘Where were you when I needed you, how could you have run away, did you not promise that you would die for Me?’ Maybe Jesus realizes that the disciples are confused and have not really taken in His gift of peace, and so He says for a second time, ‘Peace be with you.’ This is something for us all to take to heart. Jesus is speaking the same words of peace to us. This peace comes from the prince of peace. With this peace of Jesus gifted to us, we can be people at peace with ourselves, at peace with the Lord himself; and then become people of peace in our world, which truly needs peace.

It is easy to imagine Thomas’ disbelief when the disciples tell him their incredible story. We today often call him “Doubting Thomas”, as if we are thinking that we would have done much better than poor Thomas. But he had witnessed the horror of the passion of Jesus. Many of us would have reacted in exactly the same way as Thomas does in this Gospel passage. What once again, are the first words out of Jesus’ mouth? As the prince of peace, He says, “Peace be with you.” After Thomas and Jesus have a catch-up, Thomas says, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas has the privilege of being in the presence of our living Lord and he is inspired to salute Jesus in this way: “My Lord and my God!” Today, as we continue to be an Easter people, let us take the peace of Jesus deep into our lives and let us be true ambassadors of the Lord, taking His peace into the world.

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Resurrection of the Lord – April 12, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The Gospel for this Easter Sunday tells how Mary of Magdala arrives early in the morning and sees that the stone has been rolled away and the tomb is empty. She has come to grieve and spend some quiet time with her beloved friend and to try to make some sense of what has happened. She is greatly surprised to find that the tomb is empty and she runs off to find the apostles. John waits for Peter to enter first. We don’t hear Peter’s reaction when he sees the linen clothes and the empty tomb. We know that when John enters, he sees and believes. All that Jesus taught and preached suddenly becomes clear and John knows that Jesus is the Son of God who has risen from the dead. Suffering, evil and death have been conquered. The kingdom of God can continue to be preached. From this joyful scene at the tomb, the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead spreads to Peter and then to other apostles and discipes. We are people who carry the light of Christ to others and have the responsibility to hand on this faith.

This new life invites us to model our attitudes and actions on those of Christ: to love the weakest members of the community, to be generous to those who are poor, to forgive wrongs, to heal those who hurt. To help each person to rise up to meet Christ through us. We pray that God who has begun this good work in us may bring it to fulfillment. May we, and the whole world, know peace and joy this Easter Day.

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Good Friday – April 10, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor, PNCC /

We have listened to the story of Jesus giving His life for us. St. John tells us that the reason for this was love: love of the Father and love of His disciples. In St. John’s Gospel Jesus has no need of help: there is no Simon of Cyrene to assist Him with carrying the cross. He takes up His own cross and marches to Calvary which is the scene of His fulfilling His mission and revealing God to the world. His last words are not a cry for reproach, accusing God of abandoning Him, but a shout of triumph: It is accomplished. In the final scene of today’s passion reading, we meet once more the character called Nicodemus: he is no longer the shadowy figure who comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness. Now he appears boldly in broad daylight to assist in the solemn burial of Jesus, which involves a royal and extravagant amount of spices and oils. The mention of Nicodemus might remind us that he was the one to whom Jesus summed up the message of the Fourth Gospel, which reaches its climax in the paschal event which are celebrating today. Jesus told Nicodemus: God loved the world so much that He have His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life.

Is it too good to be true? Could someone love us enough to give their life so that we might live? Jesus’ mission was to reveal God’s love for human beings and invite us into a relationship with God is best described as friendship. Throughout St. John’s version of the Gospel story we are given examples of people coming to believe in Jesus, growing in their appreciation of who He is and what He means to them. Today we are invited to consider that the cross is more about love than it is about justice.

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Maundy Thursday – April 9, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor, PNCC /

In our Gospel reading, the whole idea of hierarchy is turned on its head. Jesus’ washing the feet of His disciples is a symbol of what the whole event of His passion means. It is primarily an act of love, the ultimate giving of Jesus’ self for His disciples and all people. A Jewish slave couldn’t be compelled to wash anyone’s feet. Yet here, the master, freely and on His own initiative, takes a place lower than the most lowly servant in the household. The Gospel tells us that Jesus loved His disciples to the end of His life and also to the furthest extent possible, that is, by giving His life for them. When Peter refuses to allow Jesus wash his feet, Jesus warns him that unless He does, he can have no part with Jesus.

Jesus himself gives the application of His action: “you should wash each other’s feet”. Perhaps the persons whom this most obviously concerns are those in any position of authority. Leadership within the community of disciples should be exercised as humble service, something particularly evident in our Holy Church. The symbolic washing of parishioners’ feet is not just a ritual, but a true expression of the way we live, the relationship between the person performing the action and those who are having their feet washed.

We can all learn from the example of Jesus and work to live it even better. Authority and power are not the same: Jesus is giving us an example of what authority involves, namely the courage to be humble, to be a servant of our brothers and sisters. If we can do this, then we are truly following His example.

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Passion Sunday “A” – March 29, 2020

1 Comment / Frackville, From the Pastor /

It is curious that Jesus waited until He knew Lazarus was dead before going to Bethany. Jesus himself is quite clear that this whole situation will lead to God’s glory and the glory of the Son. He says reportedly throughout this story that this great sign will lead people to faith – as it does for His disciples, for Martha and Mary, and for the people standing round the tomb. Jesus explains to Martha that faith in Him is the way to resurrection and life. Raising the dead to life is a sure sign of the presence and action of God. These Sundays Gospels have presented us with various images of what coming to faith in Christ is like: having a spring of water inside us, welling up into eternal life (the woman of Samaria); moving from blindness to sight, from darkness to light (the blind man); and today, in the story of Lazarus, it is described as being a movement from lying down to being lifted up, from being bound to being free, from death to life.

Tradition tells us that Lazarus relocated to Larnaca in Cyprus after the resurrection of Jesus. The church in Larnaca claims to be the site of Lazarus’ second tomb – where they buried him when he finally did die. It is a place of peace. Jesus had already brought him back to life once. He knew that was just a sign of an even greater miracle: that Jesus would bring him to eternal life, bring him to the kingdom of His promise. Faith in Jesus Christ empowers us to live in true freedom: freedom from fear, freedom from the power of death, freedom to live by the Spirit which God has placed is us – the Spirit of the risen Christ.

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IV Sunday of Lent “A” – March 22, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

We see process of coming to faith dramatized in today’s Gospel. Jesus is in Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles. Today the Gospel begins with a healing of a blind man. Jesus puts a mud paste on his eyes and tells him to wash it off in the Pool of Siloam. The man is given the physical sight he never had. This creates a stir. The man is interrogated about the miracle. But the miracle divided the Pharisees. Some recognize God’s hand in the healing but others see Jesus as a sinner for breaking the sabbath. The man is put under pressure, and under pressure begins to assert himself and recognizes that Jesus must be a prophet. Finally Jesus returns to the scene and challenges the man, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” When the man wants to know if Jesus is the Messaih, Jesus tells him that he can see Him now. But it is not just physical sight; he now has the spiritual insight to acknowledge Jesus in faith: “Lord, I believe,” he says, and he worships Him.

This Gospel reading is especially appropriate in Lent because, traditionally, many Christians are baptized at Easdter and are now preparing. They will receive the light of Christ. We notice in today’s Gospel, how the blind man only comes to faith gradually and in the face of persecution and abuse. But at the same time the light of Christ shows up the darkness of unbelief. Some of the Pharisees cannot open their eyes to a new revelation. The parents of the blind man sit on the fence and are unwilling to speak. Lent, and this time of stress, is the time to examine our faith. We may be like parents who want to keep quiet. Or we may be like the unbelieving Pharisees who turn from the light. Lent leads to Easter which offers us the opportunity to go beyond our physical sight and to see the world with the eyes of faith and, like the blind man, recognize Jesus as the light of the world.

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III Sunday of Lent “A” – March 15, 2020

Frackville, From the Pastor /

The prophet Hosea described God’s continuing love for the chosen people, despite their unfaithfulness to the covenant, as like that of husband still in love with his unfaithful wife, always trying to win her back.

Although they worshiped the same God, Jews despised Samaritans, in large part because the Samaritans believed that Mount Gerizim, rather than the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, was the correct place of worship the Lord. Many Jews avoided travelling through Samaria. Jesus felt impelled to go there. Jacob’s well was deep, as wells are in that region, and it was the hottest hour of the day. What a perfect setting for the story of God’s burning love for us and of our deep need for God. One can imagine the travel-weary Jesus asking humbly for hospitality wherever He went. No doubt He often encountered people at wells. We hear echoes of such conversation in today’s Gospel. The Samaritan woman in our story evidently had a colorful past, which Jesus was quick to recognize. The meeting with Jesus turned out to be no brief encounter, but a love that would never die.

The woman’s request of Jesus, “give me some of that water,” can be our prayer too. It is easy to be seduced by worldly attractions. Just as the woman kept having to go back to the well, some people find the happiness the world promises illusory and short-lived. Jesus offers us himself as the true source of life and joy. Whatever our past story, God longs to win us back. This Holy Mass is an invitation to enter into deeper communion. Do you want it? He is waiting for each one of us at the well.

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