Humility

On a sabbath day, Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour.

Luke 14:1f

As early soccer tragics, my sons dreamed of playing for Liverpool and Manchester United. While those youthful dreams were never realised they did play seniors and reserves for Devonport for quite a few years and have achieved a measure of success. They’re both great characters, put everything into the game and were valued by their teammates. While they have been rightfully proud of their achievements, they are, nevertheless, humble about what they have achieved.

Humility is not a condition, but a quality or virtue. While it is something to be aspired to, it has its roots in the Latin word humus or earth. It is an earthy quality. In the Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach the writer tells us (Ecclesiasticus 3:18): The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly. Jesus (of Nazareth) picks up this very matter, advising the Pharisees (Luke 14:11) that everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.

We live in a culture of ‘only the best will do’. Competition for resources, market share, clients, skilled workers, product, is a part of the fabric of our democratic society. And because of it the greater part of the community benefits. It also means that banks, telecommunication and mining companies walk away with billions of dollars of profits. Corporate wealth of this magnitude is almost beyond comprehension. Most of us would admit that the most important part of our lives is our family - our relationship with our spouses, children and friends and yet we know the havoc that is played on those relationships when the needs of corporate business have priority – over where we live and work, over the kinds of jobs we can do, over what we earn, over the wrangling between our political representatives. It is about power, it is about pride. Pride in success. 

Ben Sirach (v. 28) reminds us that: There is no cure for the proud man’s malady, since an evil growth has taken root in him.

Jesus explains (Luke 14:12 – 14): When you give a lunch or dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No, when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind - that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.

There is no doubt we should be proud of our work, of our home, of our children, of our sporting achievement – but we should not buy into the pride that sets us apart as being better than others, having more than others. The Gospel of Jesus has a real clarity about the dangers of power, wealth, pride, greed and knowledge. These ‘values’ are contrary to the kingdom values.

Our Catholic schools, our Catholic hospitals, our Catholic child care centres, our Catholic agencies, must always strive to be their best, but in living out kingdom values, they must be humble and must always remain available to poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind – lest they forget why they exist in the first place.

Peter Douglas

REFLECTION: CARDINAL PELL’S APPEAL AND US

by Fr Kevin Bates SM

With the outcome of Cardinal Pell’s Appeal now known and fuelled by media interest, no doubt many of the emotions and opinions that filled the air at the time of his conviction and sentencing will once more be the subject of discussions right across the community.

Some will feel positively about the outcome of the Appeal, believing that justice has now been done and that victims have been heard. Some may still harbour doubts about the plausibility of the charges and the adequacy of the processes involved and still believe the Cardinal to be innocent.

Whatever the truth of the matter in this case, we are all becoming more aware of the terrible harm done to countless people, over years and years. Much of this harm as we know was inflicted by members of the Church and often enough by priests and religious.

Understandably, the revelations of recent years have led some to walk away from the Church. Many now condemn the Church as failing in its mission too often and as having little relevance in society anymore.

Others again have broadened their focus to other issues in the Church that they demand be reformed and have stepped away from the Church until such reforms are in place.

It’s possible that we use Cardinal Pell’s case as a kind of whipping post on which to pin all our disenchantment with the wider Church. We may see him as symbolically paying for the sins of the rest of the Church.

This occasion can have something valuable to teach us. If we look carefully at our responses and attitudes, we can make thoughtful choices in the way we converse with each other, the way we pray and the way we act as members of the Church.

This is a most crucial, painful and challenging point in our history. There is indeed much that is in need of healing and reform, and given the sheer humanity of Church, there will always be need for such. The Church has always been human, both graced and sinful just as you and I are!

We need not be dismayed by this. Rather we can consider together the contribution we can make to this healing and reform, as individuals, families, pastoral groups, parishes, or other communities.

The starting point we choose for our response is very important. If we begin by considering the Church as an organization, an institution, we will miss the whole point of the Church’s existence. There are of course institutional issues with which we must deal, however for them to be our starting point or our final goal will not serve us well.

We are first and last a communion of faith, disciples of Jesus Christ who journey with him each day of our lives, personally and in communion with each other. We are bound together by our faith in the Good News of Jesus and our commitment to the living out of that Good News.

For all our differences, we pray together and proclaim the one faith that binds us.

It’s from this starting point, where we prayerfully contemplate the mysteries of our faith and how they can speak in today’s world that our mission flows as will our response to matters such as those facing us right now.

Our work for justice, health-care, education, welfare, and more, which spreads into every corner of society, is fuelled by this prayerful contemplation. Without this starting point it is not the mission of the Good News but rather a project of our own making.

So when reflecting on how we might respond to the outcome of the Cardinal’s case, or to matters that call for reform, it would be wise for us to begin in a prayerful place, in the presence of the ultimate Justice, Love and Mercy.

Let’s pray a blessing on us all as we move forward from here. 

Faithful forever

‘Yes, there are those now last who will be first, and those now first who will be last.’

Luke 13:30

O praise the Lord, all you nations,

acclaim him all you peoples!

Strong is his love for us;

he is faithful forever.

Psalm 116

The nineteen year long Vietnam War came to a close with the fall of Saigon in 1975. New Zealand withdrew in 1972 and Australia in early 1973. It is hard to imagine the power of the people who forced the hands of their governments to remove their troops from this pitiable war. For Australians that pain was realised in the sending of conscripts to fight an unwinnable war. New Zealanders were more fortunate, sending only standing troops. No one can forget the images of helicopters rescuing desperate souls from the rooftops of allied embassies, or the horrifying image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc - also known as the Napalm girl.

We can all recall the hostile and inimitable return of our soldiers from this conflict and the scarring that occurred with such overwhelming rejection by community after community. We also know that in many cases the damage was irreparable. How do we heal this agony caused by our own self-righteousness?

In overcoming her physical, more importantly her psychological injuries, the emotional and spiritual pain, Phan Thi Kim Phuc found Christ. Her faith enabled her to forgive those who had damaged her and her family.

There are thousands of narratives from both our veterans and the Vietnamese whose recounts would bring anguished tears to our eyes, and yet 46 years later there is still palpable pain that remains.

Those who wrote the psalms (whom we collectively call 'the Psalmist') needed to express the extensive array of emotions about their daily lives, their story, their relationships with each other and their God. In the turmoil that the Hebrews faced - against their many enemies, in victory and in loss, they complained, mourned, celebrated and praised. What they always returned to was their faith that the God who gave them creation, who made them a nation, who saved them from Egypt, who led them to the Promised Land - would always be with them. Such was their confidence.

While Psalm 116 (117) is the shortest of all the 150 psalms it encapsulates the joy and aspirations of the Hebrews: their God is the God of all nations, and all must praise him because his love for his people is strong and faithful. And this was a people who would understand our veterans, and the people whose land they fought in.

I do wonder how much difference faith would make. Do you?

Peter Douglas

Catholic Thinking – The Apprentices of Jesus

Professor Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor of Historical Theology, University of Nottingham, UK,  has held the Chair of Historical Theology at the University for ten years and is a priest of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton on England’s south coast. Professor O’Loughlin spoke at a Eucharistic Convention in Auckland in July this year and gave a series of lectures around the country about ministry, discipleship and the sacraments. His visit was supported by Good Shepherd College – Te Hēpara Pai, as well as the Dioceses of Auckland, Palmerston North, Christchurch and Dunedin. The following is a synopsis of one his presentations: ‘Journeying as Disciples of the Lord with St Luke’s Gospel’.

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“Becoming a follower of the Christ is not a done deal, but a work in progress.”

Professor Thomas O’Loughlin.

We have all heard the word ‘disciple’ hundreds of times. We even have very fixed idea of what the disciples of Jesus looked like as they followed Jesus around Palestine on his journeys. Disciple is just one of those words we use in church and do not think much about. But in the middle of the last century a group of Christians in Germany – faced with the horrors of Hitler’s Nazis – became convinced we needed to think about the whole matter once more.

It is very easy to think of our religion in terms of identities – and most situations encourage us to think in this way – so that I say ‘I am a Catholic’ or ‘I am a Christian’ or ‘You are a Buddhist’ or ‘She is a Muslim.’ The box is ticked, there is little more to say, and we can just see life as following accepted conventions; for example, ‘Jews go to synagogue’ or ‘Catholics go to Mass’ and that is that. But what if I recognised becoming a follower of the Christ was not a done deal but a work in progress? Now I would not start from my identity, but from my failure to recognise what being a Christian entailed, and I would become aware that at any time I might only glimpse what it means to be a disciple.

LIFE LONG LEARNING

“One is always becoming a Christian.”

It is very easy to get complete command of any body of facts that can be learned by rote, downloaded from a book, and then trot out predictable answers to old questions. What is far more challenging is to learn slowly how to master a skill – whether this be the skills of a plumber or someone who seeks to build the Kingdom of God – because one must always be open to new problems, new challenges, and to note while we are hopefully getting better, we are still far from perfect. One will only know one is a Christian at the end of a life time of trying to make life better, seeking to value love, seeking to minimise destruction, and seeking to bear witness to God the Father’s love for all humanity manifested in Jesus the Anointed One. One is always becoming a Christian.

So growing and learning what it is to be a disciple is a life-long process. Indeed, being a disciple is far more like being an apprentice in a trade than being a student in a school boning up on a subject. The student has all the answers at hand if only she can get them all into her head; that done, she can pass the exam and ‘be’ something. The apprentice learns a bit here, learns another bit there, meets this situation and that, makes mistakes and has to start over – messy, slow, but constantly in touch with the real world. Indeed, as the real constantly changes, the apprentice has to think up new solutions to problems that may never have existed before. If we think about Jesus being followed by his apprentices, and ourselves as his apprentices, then we radically alter our vision of who we are, what we are about, and what Christianity will mean for us today, and tomorrow.

Picasso, the painter, once said, ‘tradition is having a baby, not wearing your grandfather’s hat’. We often think of religion in terms of the past, and of holding on to the past; but if we are apprentices then the challenge is the future and making it a little more like the world of justice, peace and love that God’s love beckons us to build. Tradition is not a having, but a making. We hand on the vision of Jesus to that it is more there tomorrow than today.

“If we think about Jesus being followed by his apprentices, and ourselves as his apprentices, then we radically alter of vision of who we are, what we are about, and what Christianity will mean for us today, and in tomorrow.”

THE LECTIONARY

In this life of being apprentices, the great school is the liturgy. There we not only praise the Father through his Son, but we recall in the gospel each week the events, stories, teaching, and parables that were to challenge the apprentices in the first churches – and which still challenge us today. Indeed, in the Year of Luke in the lectionary – and 2019 is such a year – this theme of discipleship is a major theme and explicitly set out as such in lectionary’s plan.

Lectionary: a book or listing containing a collection of scripture readings to be read aloud in the services of the Church on a given day or occasion.The present Catholic lectionary was introduced March 22, 1970. It contains a three-year cycle of readings for Sundays and solemn feasts, a two-year weekday cycle, and a one-year cycle for the feasts of saints. And it contains readings for a large variety of other Masses. There are also responsorial psalms that follow the first readings for each Mass, along with Gospel or Alleluia verses to follow the second readings.

The whole of the Year of Luke is broken into eight units (see Lectionary, pp. lii-liii) but there are three units focussing on discipleship.

·    Lectionary unit 4: towards Jerusalem.

·    Lectionary unit 5: pardon and reconciliation.

·    Lectionary unit 6: the obstacles facing those who follow Jesus.

Unit 4: Towards Jerusalem

This unit is devoted to the first part of the ‘Travel Narrative’ and its theme is the qualities Jesus demands of those who follow him. It runs from Sunday 13 to Sunday 23, and contains 11 Sundays. Its sections/themes are listed in Table 1 below (items that are only found in Luke’s gospel are shown in bold).

TABLE 1: THE YEAR OF LUKE: ORDINARY TIME SUNDAYS 13‒23

Sunday 13	The journey begins
Sunday 14	The mission of the seventy-two
Sunday 15	The Good Samaritan
Sunday 16	At the meal in the house of Martha and Mary
Sunday 17	The friend in need
Sunday 18	The parable of the rich fool building barns
Sunday 19	The need for vigilance
Sunday 20	Jesus brings ‘not peace but division’
Sunday 21	Few will be saved
Sunday 22	True humility
Sunday 23	The cost of discipleship

Unit 5: Pardon and reconciliation

This unit consists of just one Sunday: Sunday 24. Its focus is on the ‘gospel within the Gospel’: Jesus’ message of pardon and reconciliation. It is devoted to Lk 15 (all but three verses of which are only found in this gospel), which consists of a string of three parables:

1. the lost coin;

2. the lost sheep; and

3. the prodigal son.

Unit 6: The obstacles facing those who follow Jesus

This unit is devoted to the second part of the ‘travel narrative’ and explores the obstacles facing apprentices of Jesus. It runs from Sunday 25 to Sunday 31; its sections/themes are shown in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2: THE YEAR OF LUKE: ORDINARY TIME SUNDAYS 25‒31

Sunday 25	The unjust steward
Sunday 26	The rich man and Lazarus
Sunday 27	A lesson on faith and dedication
Sunday 28	The ten lepers
Sunday 29	The unjust judge
Sunday 30	The Pharisee and the Tax-collector
Sunday 31	Meeting Zacchaeus

Thomas O’Loughlin ‘Making the Most of the Lectionary, A Users’ Guide (tinyurl.com/The-Lectionary-Users-Guide)

In many ways this is the most characteristic section of Luke’s gospel for none of these sections, stories, incidents are found elsewhere in the gospels.

SELF-IMAGE

If we think it is better to think of ourselves as apprentices to the Christ rather than being Christians, then each of these Sunday gospels challenges our assumptions, prejudices, biases, and certainties. Faith is an adventure to build the Reign of God; it’s anything but our inherited ‘old school’ customs. The apprentice is always learning, and at the same time making a difference – hopefully for the better – to those around them.

Professor Thomas O’Loughlin FRHistS, FSA, the Humanities Building, University of Nottingham, UK NG7 2RD.

Published in WelCom August 2019