It’s A Blessing To Be Poor

2022 6^th Sunday of the Year ( C )

The prophet Jeremiah tells us that the person who trusts God is blessed indeed. But how difficult it is to trust, even God, and perhaps especially God.  When we were children we learned to trust our parents; indeed, we didn’t have to learn, it just came naturally.  But then we grow older and we begin to think for ourselves, and, we begin to lose our trust. And some people grow up not trusting anybody: not their parents, their closest friends, and certainly not God. It is one thing to trust as a child, it’s easy, but it is another thing to trust as an adult. We are all called to trust God like a child trusts its parents. How easy it is to say that, but how difficult to do. 

The gospel today is a case in point; we are asked to follow Jesus’s teaching. He gives us four lessons of life. The problem is they are challenging; they contradict the values of our secular and materialistic world. Take the first one: “How happy are you who are poor: yours is the Kingdom of God.” You see what I mean?  Jesus is saying that it is a blessing to be poor. But the world we live in says: it is a blessing to be rich.  Take the next one: “Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied.” Who wants to be hungry? Who would choose to be hungry?  Yet, Jesus says the hungry are happy. Then the third lesson: “Happy you who weep now; you shall laugh.” On face value this doesn’t make sense. But it is the last lesson that is the most contradictory to our modern society: “Happy are you when people hate you, drive you out, abuse you, denounce your name as criminal, on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice when that day comes and dance for joy, for then your reward will be great in heaven.”  Who today wants to be disliked, never mind hated? We want to be popular, to be liked by everyone. You see how difficult it is to trust in God? 

However, that is what we are called to do. These lessons don’t make sense to our modern world but even to the Christian they will be challenging.  Look again at that first lesson: “Happy you who are poor: yours is the kingdom of God.”  I lived in Malawi for six months. Not long, but in that time I learned valuable life lessons. I saw the poverty in that country. Many people walk around without shoes. The normal means of transport is foot, or if you are lucky a push bike; these serve as taxis. Cars are for the well-off: it costs a teacher a month’s salary to buy a tank of petrol. The people eat mice and ants. In the drought times they go hungry. And yet I saw more smiles there than I have seen anywhere in Europe. These people showed me that you can be happy with little.   And because they are poor they trust in God. They are religious people. When I attended mass there for the first time I almost cried when I saw the singing and dancing. These people expressed their faith, their joy, through dance. I could see that their poverty was indeed a blessing. We are much better off in Europe, materially speaking, but we are poor in other ways.  Our bank accounts, our insurance policies, give us a false security. In our modern world we don’t need God. 

To trust in God we don’t have to give up all we possess. God isn’t asking us to do this. He just asks us to trust him because He loves us and cares for us, and only He can fulfil our deepest needs, especially the need to be loved and the need to love. When we learn to trust God like a child we really have learned the most important lesson in life.

I Too Am A Sinner

2022 5^th Sunday of the Year ( C )

“Leave me Lord; I am a sinful man” Peter tells Jesus.  Peter says, that because he is a sinner he does not deserve to be in the same company as Jesus.  There is something about Jesus that makes Peter feel very self-conscious; he sees in Jesus one who is so good but can see nothing good in himself, hence his words: “Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” 

What had Jesus done to have such an effect on Peter?   He had helped Peter to find the biggest catch of fish of his life. What makes this even more remarkable is that Jesus knows nothing about fishing, whereas Peter has spent his whole doing it.  Peter knows when to fish and when not to. He knows where to go to get the fish. He knows how best to catch fish. He must have been so impressed with Jesus that he let go of his better judgement.  So when Jesus tells him to go fishing Peter says, “We worked hard all night long and caught nothing.” In other words, there are no fish, if there were we would have caught them. He doesn’t tell Jesus: “what do you know about fishing?” but does as he is told. He wants to please Jesus but he knows he’s not going to catch anything.  But then, see what happens: “they netted such a huge number of fish that their nets began to tear.”  This reduced Peter to tears. Indeed, this experience changed his life. He left everything and followed Jesus. 

Why did Jesus choose Peter?  We don’t know. We can presume Peter didn’t have a reputation for holiness. If Jesus wanted a holy man he would have gone into the Temple in Jerusalem. But no, he calls this rough, tough fisherman, who probably couldn’t read or write, to be one of his closest followers.  Peter said, “why me; I am a sinner”?  

Remember in our first reading from the prophet Isaiah he too is painfully aware of his sinfulness. But then the strangest thing happens to Isaiah, the angel of the Lord takes a burning hot coal in a pair of tongs and touches his lips and says, “your sin is taken away.”  Every time I read this I wince at the thought of a red-hot coal touching Isaiah’s lips. It must have been so painful. Yet, Isaiah’s reaction isn’t to scream in pain. When the Lord asks who will be his messenger, Isaiah, the one time foul-mouthed sinner, says “Here I am, send me”. 

Isaiah, like Peter, has changed by an encounter with God.  This is what the touch of God can do to people, including us. We can be painfully aware of our sins, of our faults and failings. A good Christian will struggle with sin and all too often the sin wins. Consequently we can feel bad about ourselves.  As a priest I know I sometimes can make people feel uncomfortable, and they can’t wait for me to leave. But the priest is also a sinner who says everyday: “Lord be merciful to me a sinner.”  

Like Isaiah and Peter, we are all called to follow Jesus. And like them, He doesn’t call us because we are holy. Indeed, He does so in spite of our faults and failings. Like Peter we will continue to struggle with failings and weaknesses throughout our lives. But the good we do far exceeds the bad. But if you are really bad you always have confession. Trust me, it’s less painful than a red-hot coal on your lips.