Category: Ordinary Time Year A

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33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our Sunday Gospel is familiar to many of us. (Matthew 25: 14 – 30)

It is headed as ‘The Parable of the Talents’ and is in many Gospel editions.

It includes the line, “But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.(v. 18)

TradeMe is New Zealand’s largest online auction and classifieds website, where you can bid for everything from a pair of socks to a holiday house! The site was founded in 1999 by a young New Zealand entrepreneur, Sam Morgan. Morgan sold the enterprise in 2006 for $700 million dollars!

One of the more notable auctions happened in May 2009. The advertisement read, “Buy a Tractor and get a 20-acre farm for free.” Purchase of the tractor did come with one rather unusual added feature: a farm, the 8.1h block in the Catlins was an added bonus for whoever wins the tractor auction.

TradeMe lists has one of its busiest times of the year being immediately after Christmas – the online site is flooded with unwanted Christmas presents!

Lawnmowers, hair dryers, air fryers, cookware set, electric razors – the list is endless!

So, when does a present become a gift? When does it cease to hold the attribute of giftedness? When can it be hidden in the garden?

Have you ever held onto a gift, not because of any need you have for the gift but rather because of the one who has given you the gift!

Each time you open the cardboard and espy the unneeded blender, or perhaps open the wardrobe and see the bathroom robe, which is not your colour – memories of the one who gave you the gift flood the memory and the heart.

I suggest this is the true purpose of the gift – to re-member.

When my God has flooded me with the gift of words of the writer, or the palette of the artist, or the green fingers of the gardener, then these words, colours and green fingers offer me the opportunity to remember and to sing as the Psalmist sings:

“They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the comb.” (19:10)

The intriguing by-line which accompanies this image reads, “Must have kitchen tools: 10 amazing kitchen tools to make your life easy.”

If only life could, indeed, be made easy through the purchase of kitchen tools?!!

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32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time

The illustration is a painting by Charles Goldie titled “Memories”.
The subject is Ina te Papatahi, a Nga Puhi Chieftainess. Painted in 1906, the painting is housed at the Auckland Art Gallery.

Sometimes, I wish the First Reading of our Liturgy of The Word were a last read!

By then, we’re settled; the noise of a community gathering has settled, songbooks have been put away, the order in which the children ought to sit between Mum and Dad has been determined, the money for the collection has been found, and the nose has been cleared of mucus one last time.

We are now ready to listen.

This Sunday’s First Reading is taken from the Book of Wisdom (Wis. 6: 12 – 16).

In this book, and indeed the Book of Proverbs, Wisdom is portrayed as feminine.

In today’s reading, we read the lines, “Watch for her early and you will have no trouble; you will find her sitting at your gates. “

“You will find her sitting at your gates” – a superb image!

And where do you find a gate? Usually outside of the house you live in! It is the entranceway.

The house is frequently an image of safety, security, and assuredness.

Wisdom is found before you are embraced within this place of shelter and protection.

In 1 Kings, the young Solomon asks Yahweh for an understanding mind to discern between good and evil. Our English translation does the Hebrew a disservice; the Hebrew translates as “a listening heart”.

Wisdom is a matter not only of the mind but of the heart, like a woman’s wisdom. It is born out of suffering, as a woman bears a child. It shows a way through the darkness, the way a woman stands at the window holding a lamp.

“Her ways are ways of pleasantness,” says Solomon, then adding, just in case there should be any lingering question as to her gender, “and all her paths are peace” (3:17).

To encounter Wisdom, I suggest we should leave the warmth of home and sit at the gate – and, guess what, she will be there waiting.

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31st Sunday of Ordinary Time

There is a castle that stands on an elevation overlooking beautiful woodlands and a lake. It dominates the surrounding countryside.

Though it hasn’t been lived in for the best part of a hundred years, it still seems to be in good shape – from the outside at least.

Not a stone appears to be missing.

Its stone walls, turrets, towers, and buttresses are all intact and give it an impressive appearance.

But just step inside the castle, and you will see a completely different picture.

Inside, it is a complete shambles.

There are piles of fallen masonry and plaster everywhere. The main roof is missing, and so are most of the ceilings and floors.

Of course, there is not a stick of furniture to be found.

The big fireplace is empty.

The building is little more than a shell.

This Sunday’s First Reading from the prophet Malachi is strident. He begins,

“And now, priests, this warning is for you”. And he continues, “ But you, you have strayed from the way; you have caused many to stumble by your teaching.”

The quote causes me to ask,

“Everything they do is done to attract attention, like wearing broader phylacteries and longer tassels, like wanting to take the place of honour at banquets and the front seats in the synagogues, being greeted obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi.”(Mt 23: 5 – 7).

The photo of a working group at a recent Synod in Rome.                                                Does wearing a red or purple hat provide more power when engaged in conversation?
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30th Sundary of Ordinary Time

At the time of Jesus, the Law consisted of some 613 commandments.

The question of which commandment was the greatest was frequently asked and argued by rabbis.

Today’s Gospel has Jesus being asked the same question. However, rather than replying with one, Jesus responded by naming two as if they were one.

‘You shall love the Lord your God’ is found in the Book of Deuteronomy (6:4), and ‘you shall love you neighbour as yourself’ is found in the Book of Leviticus (19:18).

The image I find most helpful is the image of my breathing – I need to breathe both in and out to live.

Once upon a time, in the desert of Egypt, there lived an old abbot named Barnabas. Around him lived a small coterie of fellow monks.

Christmas was approaching, and the monks met to see how they ought to prepare for the approaching feast and decided to fast for the seven days before the feast day.

Each monk went off to their cell to fast and pray.

About the middle of the week, two itinerant monks came to visit Abbot Barnabas.

Seeing that they were very hungry after their journey, the Abbot cooked a little vegetable stew for them.

To make them feel at ease, he took a little of the stew himself.

The other monks saw the smoke rising from the abbot’s cell.

This could mean only one thing – he had lit a fire to cook some food, which meant he had broken the solemn fast.

They were shocked.

Together, as one body, they went to confront him.

Seeing judgement in their eyes, the abbot asked, “What crime have I committed that makes you look at me like this?”

“You have broken the solemn fast,” they answered.

“So I have, “he replied.

“I have broken the commandment you have made, however, in sharing my food with these brothers of ours, I have kept the commandment of God that we ought love one another.”

On hearing this the monks grew silent, and returned to their own cell, humbled but wiser.