Reflections of Caritas

THE 19 TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

Dear friends,

In this Gospel passage, Jesus is once again alone and taking time to pray and he essentially tells
the disciples that He will meet them on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  So the disciples are in the boat, they are on their own and they are maybe half way across, a few miles out. In this dark part of the night, they are facing opposition, not from human enemies, but from nature. The wind picks up and it is against the boat. It is looking very dangerous!

In that dark part of the night, when nature is in her full fury, they see Jesus. He is not performing a trick on the water but He is coming towards them while walking on the water. This is Jesus coming to them with His presence on these waters. And remember that the waters are not calm, the storm is whipping up a chaos and it is in this chaos that Our Lord and Saviour makes Himself manifest. And the disciples are of course, as each of us would be, terrified and they cry out in fear. Immediately, Jesus does not let them to remain in anxiety. He quickly says, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid”. Jesus reassures them and their faith strengthens.

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THE 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

Dear friends,

In our gospel today, Jesus feeds an enormous hungry crowd of people with just five loaves and two fish. Jesus freely provides more than enough food for the whole multitude through the miracle of the Multiplication of the loaves and fish. This was seemingly impossible to men. But nothing is impossible for God, and nothing is impossible when people are touched by the spark of divine compassion and generosity.

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THE SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 

GOSPEL: Matthew 13: 24-43

Dear friends,

We encounter today a parable that answers one of the most basic and perplexing questions people can have about God’s kingdom; If the kingdom of heaven has indeed come, why is evil still present? In fact, why does it seem that evil is stronger than ever? Or why does God let bad things happen to good people?

That was a very practical question for the disciples. After all, if the kingdom of heaven had indeed come and had begun to spread upon the earth, why was it that Jesus was meeting with such great opposition from the Jewish religious leaders? Why were they plotting to kill Him? Why was there so much resistance to Him as “King”?

Like the disciples, the servants in the parable are very inquisitive, they put forward to their master an important question; “Where, then, did these weeds come from?” There is an urgency to their question. They want to know what happened and who is responsible. So do we. That’s what we want to know when we discover weeds in our fields. We want an explanation and someone we can blame, hold accountable, and even punish. Far too often we see that in our day to day life situations and opinions. Jesus, however, seems less interested in this approach than we are. He doesn’t give it much time or attention.

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THE FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A

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