Today is the twenty-third anniversary of my ordination to
the Priesthood in Birmingham Cathedral, a day for which I give
thanks. It seemed very appropriate that the Gospel (1) for
today’s Mass, the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, included this statement by
Jesus:
“Whoever loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and
follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt.10:37)
It is known as one of the ‘hard-sayings’ of Jesus because,
at first sight, it seems both overly-demanding and exclusive. Yet, on
further reflection, it is also one of the most beautiful and inspiring.
For it is a forceful reminder that our gaze be directed to the Heart of Christ,
from which every human heart takes its shape and form yet which can become so
misshapen. It is easy for us to be misled by those we love – even the
most wonderful of human lovers has their faults – and we need to have our own
heart, the centre of our being, constantly re-focussed and re-made. And
we who are Christians find that the Heart of Jesus has no flaws and longs to
re-fashion us in Christ’s image and likeness. So we need to love the
Heart of Jesus with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with
all our mind, and with all our strength. (Mt.12:30)
And, as if offering a further reflection on the Gospel,
today’s Office of Readings includes the Homily Pope Paul VI during
his visit to the Philippines in 1970 (2):
“I must bear witness to his name: Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of the living God (Matt.16:16).
He reveals the invisible God; he is the firstborn of all creation, the
foundation of everything created. He is the Teacher of mankind, and its
Redeemer. He was born, he died and he rose again for us. He is the
centre of history and of the world; he is the one who knows us and who loves
us; he is the companion and the friend of our life. He is the man of
sorrows and of hope. It is he who will come and who one day will be our
judge and - we hope - the everlasting fullness of our existence, our happiness.
I could never finish speaking about him: he is the light and the truth;
indeed, he is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (In.14:6). He is the bread and the spring of living water to
satisfy our hunger and our thirst. He is our shepherd, our guide, our
model, our comfort, our brother. Like us, and more than us, he has been
little, poor, humiliated; he has been a worker; he has known misfortune and
been patient. For our sake he spoke, worked miracles and founded a new
kingdom where the poor are happy, where peace is the principle for living
together, where the pure of heart and those who mourn are raised up and
comforted, where those who hunger and thirst after justice have their fill,
where sinners can be forgiven, where all are brothers.
Jesus Christ: you have heard him spoken of; indeed the
greater part of you are already his: you are Christians. So, to you
Christians I repeat his name, to everyone I proclaim him: Jesus Christ is the
beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega; he is the king of the new
world; he is the secret of history; he is the key to our destiny. He is
the mediator, the bridge, between heaven and earth. He is more perfectly
than anyone else the Son of Man, because he is the Son of God, eternal and
infinite. He is the son of Mary, blessed among all women, his mother
according to the flesh, and our mother through the sharing in the Spirit of his
Mystical Body.
Jesus Christ is our constant preaching; it is his name that
we proclaim to the ends of the earth (cf. Rom
10:18) and throughout all ages (Rom.9
5). Remember this and ponder on it: the Pope has come here among you
and has proclaimed Jesus Christ!”
____________________________________________________
(1) Revised Common
Lectionary
(2) Homily of the late Holy Father, Paul VI, at
Mass at the ‘Quezon Circle, Manila, The Philippines, on Sunday, 29 November
1970
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