28-Jun-2009
Dear Friend,
Every one of us has prejudices, whether we admit or deny it. We are impressed
with out- ward show and appearances. We are awed by strength and power and we
despise weakness. We are attracted to the bold and beautiful. We are easily
taken in by people’s oratory and showmanship. Often our prejudices prevent us
from seeing people’s true worth, and familiarity breeds contempt. Yet God can
and does speak through the most ordinary and simple people. Can we discern His
voice? Have a discerning weekend discovering His voice in our lives. Fr. Jude
Sunday Reflections: Fourteenth Sunday of the Year ‘Listening to God’s
prophets!’ 5-Jul-2009
Ezekiel 5: 2- 5; 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10; Mark 6: 1-6;
The prophet Ezekiel lived before, during and after the exile of the Hebrews and
suffered much rejection. Ezekiel tried to call his people to repentance but
failed. It was frustrating to be called God’s spokesman and to realize that
people were unwilling to listen. Because of the people’s sins. Ezekiel
predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and the devastation of their country.
His preaching forced the people to choose between faith and politics. Speaking
for God is a tough business.
Speaking in God’s Name
In 1960 a religious persecution broke out in Sudan in Africa. A Christian black
student, Paride Taban, fled the country and went to Uganda, studied for the
priesthood and was ordained. When things settled down in Sudan, young Fr. Taban
returned and was assigned a parish in Palotaka. But his congregation found it
hard to believe that he was really a priest. They had never seen a black priest
before, they always had white priests before who gave them clothing and
medicine. Fr. Taban was from the Madi tribe and had nothing to give. He was
poor like them. –The story of Fr. Taban is a modern example of the kind of
persecution prophets had to encounter. They were sent by God to speak out no
matter whether people accepted or rejected them.
Anthony Castle in ‘Quotes and Anecdotes’
In the second reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, Paul
confesses how difficult it was to accept his weaknesses. Paul had been unjustly
criticized by his opponents who weakened his authority with his own people. To
counter their attacked Paul enumerated the many privileges he enjoyed and why
he was second to none in his mission. Yet he admits that he had a weakness and
prayed for it to be removed, but his prayer was not answered. His faith
response was to assert that ‘when I am weak, then I am strong.” The ‘thorn in
the flesh’ could have been a physical weakness, or rejection by others or a
painful experience, but Paul realized that God’s power is revealed through
human weakness. Our weakness can be our strength!
Our Strengths or Weaknesses
Two paupers wandered from town to town, begging for alms. One was a giant who
had never been sick in his life; the other was a cripple who had never known
anything but sickness. The giant used to laugh at the cripple. The cripple took
his mockery very much to heart, and in his resentment prayed that God would
punish his cruel companion. At last the two paupers reached the capital city.
They arrived just in time when a great misfortune had happened to the king. Two
of his most trusted servants had died suddenly. One was his personal
body-guard, the strongest man in the land; the other was his personal
physician, the most skillful physician in the entire realm. So the king sent
couriers into all the towns and villages of his kingdom to gather into the
capital all the strong men and doctors who wished to apply for the vacant
posts. The king finally chose one strong man and one doctor from among the
applicants. He then asked them to furnish proof of their
fitness for the posts to be filled in. “Your majesty” said the strong man.
“Bring me the strongest and biggest man in this city and I will kill him with
one blow of my fist.” And the doctor said, “Bring me the most helpless cripple
you can find and I will make him well in one week.” So the king sent messengers
throughout the city looking for the strongest of men and the most helpless
cripple. Luck was with them for they soon came across the two paupers. So they
brought them before the king. With one blow of his fist the strong man killed
the giant. Then the doctor examined the cripple, and after a week’s treatment
he made the cripple well. –The strength of the strong often proves to be their
downfall, while the weakness of the weak often saves them.
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’
Today’s gospel speaks of the frustration and the rejection that Jesus
experienced when he went to his own people and his own home town. Jesus goes to
the synagogue to preach God’s word there. The people are surprised at his
wisdom and are astounded that a man from their own neighbour hood could speak
so well. The question was how he could have acquired such wisdom and knowledge.
Perhaps if he had done well in politics or entertainment they would have been
proud that he was from their village, but being a prophet and speaking in God’s
name was a different matter. Preaching like a prophet aroused their animosity.
A prophet can upset the people, he can confront the people, he could challenge
them or rebuke them. Jesus’ neighbours were afraid of him. Fear leads to
rejection. We too do not like people who are blunt and whose words and life
confronts our own, so we tend to reject them. Jesus was surprised at their lack
of faith and he felt totally
helpless so that they could work no miracle in their midst. He complained, “No
prophet is acceptable in his own country.” Today we have prophets in our midst,
prophets who speak in the name of God and sometimes confront us. We do not like
to listen to them. We write them off as people we know, as people with whom we
grew up, yet God constantly raises prophets in our midst. Can we discern the
prophetic voice rather than be blinded by our prejudices?
“A simple, direct story. At the conclusion of his Galilean ministry, here is a
report of failure: the rejection of Jesus by his fellow-citizens. And yet all
had begun well. The astonishment of the people of Nazareth at the wisdom and
miracles of the one they thought they knew had led them to ask the good
question, the one which could lead them to faith: ‘Where did the man get all
this?’. It was enough to recall what Moses had announced: ‘The Lord your God
raise up for you a prophet like me among you, from your brethren, him you shall
heed’ (Deut 18:15), In order to speak to men, God normally chooses persons who
are near to them. The faith of the inhabitants of Nazareth hesitates before the
ordinary and familiar character of the presence of Jesus among them. Jesus, for
his part, has cause to be astonished: faced with their skepticism, he is
disarmed, incapable of performing any miracle. . . One can draw two lessons
from this account. First,
that there is a way of paralyzing someone, of reducing him to powerlessness,
simply by withdrawing confidence from him, imprisoning him in ready-made
categories. What energies are suppressed, discouraged, what joys smothered by
our final judgements on those whom we believe we know! In our estimation of
others, do we leave room for hope? But there is more to it than that. God calls
us too, not by extraordinary people, but by very ordinary beings in whom we
have to recognize the unpredictable presence of the one sent by God. The guest,
the neighbour, the sick person, the stranger, the one at my side, are so many
channels of grace, if we guard in our hearts this dynamism of expectancy which
calls for and brings about miracles. Yes God has need of men in order to
manifest himself.” –Glenstal Bible Missal
Thorn in the Flesh
The ‘thorn in the flesh’ could take the form of rejection by others. Some are
rejected because of colour, race or nationality but when they keep on loving
others, they soon see the dynamic presence of God in their rejected condition
and win acceptance, love and even admiration. Some are rejected early in life
as useless for the future. Bishop Fulton Sheen, the great preacher, was told by
his college debate coach, “You are absolutely the worse speaker I ever heard.”
Ernest Hemmingway, the great novelist, was told by his teachers, “Forget about
writing; you don’t have enough talent for it. Richard Hooker, the author of
MASH, had his book rejected by six publishers before it was finally accepted
and became a best seller. All such people were not disheartened by rejection,
rather they continued to believe in their own worth and persevered in their
efforts and God brought out of these rejected individuals the best they could
offer to the world.
Vima Dasan in ‘His Word Lives’
God Wishes to Reach Out to Us
I remember being profoundly moved by the unfolding of events in Romania some
years ago, at the fall of a tyrannical dictatorship. When the country was
opened up, the horror stories began to emerge about the living conditions in
orphanages, psychiatric hospitals, etc. Many young people went out from this
country to help transform the living conditions of these unfortunate people. I
knew one such girl. The first time she entered an orphanage, the two things
that struck her most were the stench and the silence. When babies cry and are
not attended to, they stop crying. The babies were living in conditions that
would be unacceptable in the animal kingdom. Matters of toilet were totally
neglected, and the children had no experience whatever of being held, of being
nursed. At the approach of an adult the babies were seen to tremble, like
frightened rabbits. Mary’s job was to sit for hours on end beside one such
baby, until the baby got used to her presence.
She then, over a long period, worked at drawing closer to the baby, and
eventually touching it, without frightening it. It often took several weeks
before Mary’s big day came. When she approached the baby, and it held up its
arms to be lifted, she felt that was one the greatest moments in her life. She
shed many a tear while she worked with those babies. Jesus really wants to
touch us, he wants to embrace us, he wants to be free from all the evil, sin,
and the human degradation.
Jack McArdle in 'And that’s the Gospel truth!'
Rejecting the Messenger
A traveling circus was staying on the outskirts of a village. One evening
shortly before show time, a fire broke out in one of the tents. The manager
sent the clown, who was already dressed up for his act, into the nearby village
for help. There was a danger that the fire would spread across the fields of
dry stubble and burn the village itself. The clown hurried into the village. He
asked the people to come out as quickly as possible to help to quench the fire.
But the people didn’t take him seriously. They thought that it was a brilliant
part of advertisement on the part of the management. He tried his best to make
them understand that there really was a fire. But the harder he tried the more
they laughed at him. Finally the fire reached the village and burned it to the
ground. The main reason why the villagers didn’t listen to the man was that
they looked upon him as a clown. This made it virtually impossible for them to
examine the truth of what
he was saying to them.
Flor McCarthy in ‘New Sunday and Holy Day Liturgies’
May we discover and listen to the prophetic voice of God in the most ordinary
and simple people!
Fr. Jude Botelho
judebote...@netforlife.net
PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been
collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and
from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever
possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you
could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in
these reflections. These reflections are also available on my remodelled web
site www.netforlife.net Thank you.
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