Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr Dominic's Homily
Today we hear about Moses and the Israelites in the desert. The people are complaining about everything. They wished they were back in Egypt where they had proper food to eat.
The pressure is too much for Moses so he asks God if he can appoint 70 elders to help share some of the responsibility. So there is a kind of ordination of the people he chooses to help with this.
We hear that two of the elders missed the ceremony (or were late arriving) this often happens amongst clergy! Yet however God’s grace still alights upon them and they receive the gift of prophecy.
Someone runs to Moses and tells him that they shouldn’t be doing it. And Moses gives this wonderful reply “Are you jealous on my account? How I wish everyone was given gifts like this from God”
Priests can often have people running to them telling tales on what others should or shouldn’t be doing. We can think in a similar way – “are you jealous on my account? If only everyone would help in the right way. Instead of being upset and jealous let’s rejoice.”
We do need ceremonies and sacraments in the Church for the grace of God to reach us. But God himself is not limited by them. God can do what he wants and can choose to operate either within those boundaries or outside them.
We see from scripture and tradition that God wants to speak to us through the Church, that’s his preference. Yet just because the Catholic Church contains the fullness of his presence that doesn’t place limits on what God can do.
The Catholic Church is the best possible means for us to attain eternal life. As I have said before it’s like a thick copper cable that conducts the best electricity in terms of mediating God’s grace to us.
We have Scripture, liturgy, the sacraments, the Mass, the Eucharist, apostolic succession and papal authority. It’s like the ultimate Wifi Router.
But that doesn’t mean that other denominations don’t still conduct electricity. Look on youtube at the enormous crowds that Billy Graham used to attract. Who are we to be jealous on God's behalf? Shouldn’t we rather rejoice that the kingdom of God is being preached so well?
Nobody can say that Jesus is God unless he is guided by the Holy Spirit. The churches may not yet all be in full communion but the Holy Spirit is drawing all of us closer to God in a magnetic way as we follow our spiritual journey. We are all on pilgrimage.
If you have done the Camino you will know that the closer you get to the destination the more you realise that actually it was the journey that counts. And that our whole lives are a kind of pilgrimage with Jesus as our guide. He is the way, the life and the truth.
That doesn’t mean that we won’t encounter obstacles, setbacks, confusion, wrong turns and wrong turns now and then. But we know that our faith is pointless unless it is based on the steady footing of Christ.
Jesus always tells us truth. He is gravely concerned about the eternal fate of each and every one of us. That’s why he also speaks today about the reality of hell and that we must do whatever we can to avoid separating ourselves from God forever.
He earnestly desires that we enter the kingdom of God rather than the fires of hell. That’s why he gives us these graphic images today of millstones around our necks and cutting our limbs because he doesn’t want us to die in the state of un-repented sin.
Hell is an eternal reality. The pain doesn’t come from the fires themselves but from our separation from Gods love because we are all made to be with him. It’s only in him that we find our ultimate fulfilment.
So perhaps we need to ask ourselves:
• what we need to detach ourselves from,
• what do we need to let go of
• or change in our lives
that is maybe stopping us from reaching our ultimate pilgrimage destination that is the kingdom of heaven.