Sermons
January 21, 2018
The word that struck me in the Gospel of today is the little word “at once”, unfortunately replaced by the rather vague word “then” in our liturgical books. Jesus calls the fishermen Simon and Andreas and “at once they left their nets and followed him”. There is a sense of urgency in this scene. The Kingdom God Jesus had preached about is something so important that it can’t wait. Everything else is secondary. It requires an immediate answer. Usually we don’t take such an important decision that changes life completely in a hurry. Supposing Peter would have answered Jesus: “Thanks for the invitation. Let me go home and discuss it with my wife.” She would probably have said: “Are you crazy? Who is going to provide the food for our children? And what about me?” And had Peter consulted the village Rabbi, he probably would have said something like this: “We don’t know this fellow Jesus. His statements are sometimes a bit unbalanced. Wait till we have more information about him.” Had Peter followed his reason and not the intuition of his heart, his story would not have been told this Sunday morning. The first reading of today tells a very different story. It is about a prophet by the name Jonas who also gets a call and also seems to answer immediately. But the reading leaves out the most important part of the story, namely that Jonas goes indeed to the harbour, but then he takes a ship sailing in the opposite direction. He simply runs away from God’s call. Don’t we often react like Jonas when God sends us a gentle invitation? We tend to push it aside and do something else. Last Sunday we heard about another reaction to God’s call. In John’s Gospel Andrew asks Jesus: “Where do you live?” He wants to find out first who Jesus is before committing himself. Usually that is a wise thing to do before taking an important decision. Get more information, consult other people about it, take time to think and pray about it, go through a process of discernment. While this is prudent in most cases, there are situations, which call for an immediate reaction. And if we do not grasp the chance there and then, it passes never to come again. Here is an example. On his flight from Chile to Peru last week, Pope Francis was served by two stewards, a man and a lady. Looking at the man the Pope pointed to the lady and asked: “Is this your wife?” When the steward said yes, the Pope continued the conservation. “Are you married?” “Yes, but only in the registrar’s office.” “Why did you not marry in Church?” “Well, the church we wanted to marry in was destroyed by an earthquake.” In his spontaneous way the Pope surprised them with the invitation to get married then and there on the plane.” And so, it happened. If they had hesitated and insisted to consult first their families, this opportunity to be married by the Pope would have never happened again. In some situations, it is now or never. If Peter and Andrew had not responded at that moment, Jesus may simply have passed on. Such occasions, where we have to decide at once or miss our chance, happen rarely. But there are little invitations and inspirations through which God calls us almost on a daily basis. We see someone in need and have the feeling: I should go and help that poor person. If you do not do it on the spot, you may never meet that person again. Or something says in you: I should write that difficult letter now, but then you procrastinate and escape into other occupations and forget all about it. Or you may go to your work in the morning and you feel a subtle urge to lift up your heart in prayer to God for a moment. If you do not respond at once, that chance may never come back during the rest of your busy day. Maybe we could try to become more aware of these little invitations we receive and like Peter and Andrew respond at once.
Fr Wolfgang Schonecke, MAfr
January 7, 2018
In an age of globalization, the celebration of Epiphany takes on more importance than ever. The vision of Christ is to provide a light for the whole world, it calls together the whole world and all its peoples, it calls for a healing of divisions and for openness to learn from all people, it calls for a just world order. I think in 2017, we had enough opportunities to see that many of these visions were violated – many of them lost their importance this last year. The Feast of the Epiphany invites us to celebrate Jesus who came as a light to all people, not just to some subset of the human race - be it the rich ones, the white ones, the Christian ones…. No subset of the human race can claim to be nearer to Christ and his vision than another subset. Thus, the categorical exclusion of anyone contradicts the good news of Jesus Christ: racism, stereotyping, discrimination, xenophobia, ethnic violence is all wrong. The behavior of Herod in our gospel reflects the behavior of one who is afraid. The news about a new child to be "king" threatens the kingship of Herod. Rather than learning from the wisdom of the foreign visitors, Herod is afraid, and seeks to destroy what they came to discover. The behavior of the foreign visitors is the behavior of those who seek the truth at great cost. The child offers a vision that is worth traveling a long distance to experience. Jesus offers a light that is worth sharing. In the wisdom of a child born in humble circumstances, the three foreign visitors find a wonderful light, good news, and a liberation from sin, injustice, and prejudice. The foreigners experience the power and the gift of Christ. They also bring gifts with them - gifts that are given to the child but also "gifts" that open our eyes to the experience of the light of Christ as a gift for the whole world. This mutuality is part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Giving and receiving happen at the same time. And this must find its echo in our lives as friends of Jesus, as sons and daughters of God. The story of the three foreign visitors has implications for many aspects for our lives, for the life of the Church. No one is to be excluded from the light of Christ. Whether we are young or old, female or male, rich or poor, black or white, immigrant or native born, from the south or the north, from the east or the west, educated at a famous school or a very ordinary one, employed or unemployed, healthy or sick, we are all invited to experience the Epiphany, we are all invited to see the light God wants to give to our world
Fr Wolfgang Felber
December 17, 2017
In our two readings from the prophet Isaiah and from the gospel according to John, we hear of two men being called by God. We can be sure that these parts of those two books were the last to have been written. It is only in hindsight that it was clear for Isaiah and for John the Baptist that they had been called by God. Prophets do not know the details of their ministry from the beginning. Let us take the text from Isaiah. Isaiah eventually discovers who benefited from the words he proclaimed. These were the lowly, the brokenhearted, captives and prisoners. I doubt he began his ministry with that specific audience in mind. But the prophet was convinced that “the Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me” – this is the first line of our reading. In the beginning of his ministry, Isaiah had no idea how this service to his people would evolve, but he knew that he received a mission from his God. Is there a master plan when God calls a person to be a prophet? No, God’s calling someone to be his prophet is not accompanied by a hidden master plan! That is rarely the biblical case! John the Baptist provides an example. Let us look at the prologue to John’s gospel from which today’s passage is taken. [The gospel according to John the Evangelist…. – not the Baptist, by the way]. We see that John the Baptist was quite certain about the details and direction of his ministry. The evangelist tells us: God sent a man named John, who came to tell about the light and to lead all people to have faith. John understands his place in salvation history so well that he can confidently proclaim: “ I am not the Messiah! I am not Elijah! I am not the prophet!” When pressed, he replies, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’ But here with you is someone you don't know. Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” From the beginning, Christians have regarded John as Jesus’ precursor: as the person who spent and gave his life to prepare the way for Jesus. No one today denies he did this – he did prepare the way for Jesus. But today, in 2017, and already for a long time, one thing has been clear– and this is due to research in the Bible and its context: the historical John the Baptist probably didn’t recognize his role in God’s plan. And he did not understand the meaning of his own death. He did not understand why he was beheaded by Herod. It probably never crossed the mind of John the Baptist that he actually was preparing the ground for the seed Jesus would later plant. In the light of this, our passage from the letter of St Paul to the community in Thessaloniki becomes significant. This section is one of the earliest Christian writings we possess. What Paul does is not so much to point out the meaning of the past. But what he does is to try to help his community experience the present, understand the present. I am convinced that Paul wrote this passage for the community in Thessaloniki – and for this community only. Do you really think that Paul wrote this passage with the idea in his mind that it would be read and reflected today, two thousand years later? Paul composed these lines to help his followers imitate Jesus even when they weren’t 100% certain where the imitation was leading them. Paul commands his people: Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God. Don't turn away God's Spirit or ignore prophecies. Put everything to the test. Accept what is good and don't have anything to do with evil. I used these verses for the penitential service and the individual confessions we had for the First Holy Communion children in the English-speaking mission on December 17th. I think this is not a bad way to live - especially when we’re not exactly certain where our living is taking us, where our Church goes, where our political and economic system goes.
Fr Wolfgang Felber