22 SÖNDAGEN UNDER ÅRET C

Lördag 28 aug

17:00 Vigiliemässa

Söndag 29 aug

12. 00 Högmässa

17.30 Mass in English

Tisdag 31 aug

18.00 Rosenkransen
18.30 Mässa

Onsdagen 1 sept

18.00 Rosenkransen
18.30 Mässa

Friends, today's liturgy addresses a fundamental issue of life: humility. Jesus does not speak in abstract terms. His words are always based on everyday experience. Today he gives a parable to teach us something important about a true and fruitful life. It is interesting to notice how he formulates himself in the second person in the parable. God speaks and he does it forever. He is a God who speaks, who announces himself. He spoke and the world became to be. He spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and many others after them and they heard and listened. You would think that the world would hold its breath when God speaks His Word, that it listens in reverent silence. In our day, everyone is talking, but who wants to listen? Many are today writing on Face book, twitter and other social media boards, but who is reading?

The first reading today is from the fruit of the experience of Ben Sirach's spiritual journey. Sirach's instructions are not merely speculative or theoretical, but practical principles for everyday life. It is intended to guide a well ordered and fruitful life. For Ben Sirach, humility is one of the fundamental attitudes of wisdom, a sure foundation for life. The humble person is better loved than the rich who is feared for his or her wealth especially if not "meek and humble of heart." The humble proclaims the greatness of the Lord. The Lord looks on the lowliness of his servants. Indeed, biblical tradition already knew it. This is what is captured in psalm 147:6: "The Lord sustains the lowly; the wicked he casts to the ground."

The text of Hebrew read today underscores the difference between the present and the earlier relationship of God with his people. God's relationship with his people changed radically with the incarnation of Christ. God became human and dwelt among his people. During the time of Moses, the people feared and trembled before God (Exod 19:16). They did not want him to speak directly to them. They preferred that Moses speaks to them rather than God for fear that they would die hearing the voice of God (Exod 20:18-19). With Jesus it is different. God comes to his people without having to manifest outwardly terrifying signs. The people now come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God as the first-born without fear. Now the Christian life is a communion with the angels and the saints. Fear is now replaced by joy.

From experience, we know that people listening to us when we preach have very different intentions. Some are only looking for words or statements with which to accuse us. Some others have an honest desire to hear the word of God. Yet others who have already received the Gospel want to grow in deeper understanding of the gospel. This was also Jesus' experience. Jesus had to talk to all these different types of people simultaneously just as we do today. Therefore, he speaks in parables which allows for different interpretations according to the capacity of the audience to understand. Some do not go beyond the material meaning of the words preached, while some people know that the words have deeper meaning than their material content. In addition, there are always those who are interested in criticizing what is preached rather than opening themselves and living according to the message. God's word cannot be completely captured by human language because God is infinite and human understanding and languages are both limited.

Nevertheless, each homily offers the audience the opportunity to grow and mature in their faith. We need each other to grow and mature. We grow by loving. Love entails always sacrifice. God has created us as indispensable members of each other. There is a profound, invisible solidarity between all members of the human family. Our belief or unbelief has implications for many others. Although we may never have any direct significant influence over the other, we still have a responsibility to them. We are interconnected with others, we pull them up or down as we accept or reject God. Each of us has a tremendous responsibility for how we act in life. One thing that constitutes a major obstacle in opening ourselves to God and others is pride.

Pride is often deeply rooted in each of us. It makes us forget that neither strength nor power can take us into the kingdom of God. Pride can show its colours in many different ways, often with the intent to conceal its true face. Sometimes we try to convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing while we hate and fight to destroy the other. Hatred is contagious and spreads like fire. When we turn ourselves from God by not allowing him to inspire and complete our actions, we poison our mutual relationships with others. How unjust and cruel, can we not be, even if the hatred is subtle and sophisticated in form? Jesus shows us how important it is to be humble. Because he humbled himself God exalted Him (Phil 2:8-9).

When we begin to realize how much pride and hatred that is within us, it is the road to repentance we have to go. Love does not intend evil. In order for us to gradually free ourselves from the spiritual pest that is pride, the first step is becoming aware that we are infected by it. We must open our eyes to how we often look at others who think differently as a threat to ourselves. It is in weakness and humility that we can approach the Almighty's face.

We can be very busy for God yet we have no time to listen to him. There are different ways of looking at our efforts in the Church or the work that we perform in the name of God. We can nourish our pride with thoughts on how to get praise and glory, affirmation perhaps from both God and humans. Obviously, we cannot get closer to God in that way even if we performed great works for him. Sometimes our pride is wounded when others disagree with our plans and wishes for the work of God. Because it does not go our way, according to our wishes, our pride may lead us to doing everything in our powers to sabotage the work that is being done for God and his people. While doing this, we may honestly believe that we are doing the right thing for God and his people. Meanwhile it is our ego that stands at the center and we feed it. When the little ego is at the center, it is difficult to be free from self-love and glorification.

Among the most difficult things in life is the art of listening. We experience this in our conversations. Unfortunately, we observe it easily in others than within ourselves. Sometimes we are silent to let the others speak to point just to have the floor to say our meaning. Often it happens that while others are speaking, we are busy formulating what we want to say rather than listen to what they are saying. This sometimes manifests itself by raising our hands and holding it in place while others are still speaking. We want others to listen to us without us listening to them. At the end, all have spoken without anyone having listened. This is the dilemma of modern dialogue. Anyone who learns the art of listening will find a deep source of joy. Being able to listen is the joy of the wise. It is an important prerequisite for those who want to find happiness. Unfortunately, the capacity to listen is lacking in many people today.

The Pharisees who took the best seats at the party in the parable this day may be said to represent this self-glorification that hangs on our world as a deadly pest. Individualism, tyranny of relativism and the unbridled craze for autonomy are all anti-thesis to the feast that the Lord has invited us to. It is to this feat that the parable of this day directs our attention. The Eucharist is a foretaste of this supper. The fact that Jesus gives the parable in the second person - "When you are invited...", gives the parable a general significance and shows that it is addressed to people of all times. The supper to which Jesus is invited is a concrete expression of the universality of the message of God. All are invited. We are encouraged to share whatever we have not just with our friends but with all people, the poor and the rich, friends and enemies alike. What Jesus says about one's choice of guest is valuable always and everywhere.

When we talk, we do so sometimes to camouflage our emptiness. If God wants to talk so someone must be willing to listen. When Jesus visited Mary and Martha, Martha was completely busy with the preparations for the meal while Mary was all ears to what Jesus has to say. Mary thought only of listening. Martha complained that Mary left all the work for her. She did not understand that what Mary was doing was a much harder job than she did in the kitchen. Mary chose what was best (Luke 10:41-42). Our faith is not a private matter. It is not a dream or imagination. It is an attitude to life that we gradually grow into, right through crises and trials. Faith often grows better in times of crisis. Humility is the opposite of pride. It is openness to God's glory and one of the most fundamental attitudes to life. Mary's hymn of thanksgiving expresses the joy of all the humble in their thanksgiving to God. The more success we have in life, the more we must be humble. Without humility it is difficult to listen to God. We have no right to raise ourselves into places of honour. God exalts the humble.

Friends, today we come to the last sequence of the Eighteenth to Twenty-first Sundays. This Sunday acts as a kind of conclusion to a set of instructions given by Jesus on salvation. It focuses on the type of life one should lead, and on the choices required to attain salvation. It reminds us that the gate to heaven is narrow and would not be left open indefinitely. There was a prediction about the future of religion, which until a few years ago was considered inevitable by both science and society. It was the belief that religion would be removed from the public sphere, from social life and its impact be confined and banished to private lives. Despite all the frontal attack on religion from various quarters, it continues to awake awe in many people and grow in many countries. It often seems that we are free to do whatever we wish as long as we do not infringe on the freedom of any other person.  Today's Liturgy questions such a position and reminds us that the road to life has never been wide. We can assume that today's liturgy is a result of the discussions of the three previous Sundays. In Matthew, Jesus says that "it is easier for a Carmel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" (Luke 18:25-26).

The first reading confirms that God has a universal plan of salvation for all people (Isa. 66.18-21). It proclaims the universal intent of God's plan of salvation. The Prophet tells us that God will "gather nations of every language". Our most important conditions in life lie outside our power to control. We do not choose our parents, life, body, soul, country, language, or family relations. We are born as children into the communities that already have their traditions. Yet God knows all people's deeds and thoughts. It is he who gathers the nations on earth. They are invited to see his glory and to be his messengers proclaiming his glory.  The community already assembled by God must proclaim the universality of his salvation. "Some of these I will take as priests and Levites", says the Lord. It is difficult to see how the prophet in the text could have foreseen the blossoming of the priesthood in spite of the limited number of exiles returning to their homes. To accomplish his plan, God actively involves those whom he has already saved.  The Psalmist takes up this same theme: "Go out into the whole world and preach the gospel". In the second reading, the author to the book of Hebrews writes to a people who no longer saw any meaning in suffering. It should not be viewed as if this text praises suffering and urges hearers to seek suffering. In allowing suffering, God has a holistic perspective.  The reason we suffer is in part due to human weaknesses and partly due to natural events. The enduring of suffering from a Christian demonstrates the depth and strength of Christian hope. It is this hope that inspires and sustains the struggle to enter God's kingdom.

In today's Gospel Jesus answers the question "is it just a few who are saved?" Jesus called them to struggle to get in through the narrow gate. Many are going to attempt enter but not succeed. These words seem to suggest that heaven is for a few people. The gate to the hall of the heavenly banquet is narrow and will not be open for all time. This may mean that we have limited time. As long as we are on earth, it is never too late. In this context, it is important that we dispose of our time on the best way. Some people who believe they have the right to enter heaven will be excluded while those who did not think they would get a chance to enter into heaven will be admitted. This means that it is not enough to be called by name believers, but one must put word into action. In other words, the last will be the first, and the first will be the last. Hope is the last to leave a person, but also the first requirement for those who want to live. It relates to what the future brings. Blaise Pascal's wager is worth a thought: Christianity is either an illusion or grounded in reality. In the latter case it would be foolish not to invest in it. In the former case, the believer has at least lived a more beautiful and more meaningful life than those without this belief and hope.

In order to be able to get true insight into the essence of life, one must come close to him who is the source of life: Jesus. It is God who gives our mind's eye light so that we can see what hope his call holds for us (Ephesians 1:17-18). The most important thing in life is to be in Jesus and not in ourselves. When we live for ourselves, we cannot live at the same time for Jesus. To live life for ourselves means to gain the whole world and lose ourselves. To live with no perspective on the spiritual leads people to ruin. Total surrendering is required by anyone who wants to find himself or herself. It means that one must deny oneself and take up one's cross and follow Jesus. Jesus' invitation to people to take up their cross and follow him is something that does not get a response from most people today. Some allege that this call restricts one from living fully. Most Christians want Christianity without the cross. Often we are so superficial that we are completely attached to material or intellectual wealth. We often forget that there are more important dimensions in life than wealth.

What gives us a real understanding of God is our heart's desire and attitude. Jesus proclaims in word and especially with his life that God loves us and is with us. Our faith is a treasure, or talent that we have to administer. Some people intellectually accept the word of God and say yes to him where their life is far from him.  James talks about the difference between faith and action in chapter 2:14-26. Faith without works is dead. The word of God demands discipleship from the moment it is proclaimed. When Jesus speaks, he demonstrates it with his life. Christianity is not an ideology but the love of God which has become visible. When we ask theoretical questions to God, we often receive answers far deeper than the immediate solutions we seek. Knowing God is not just philosophically speculating about him. To the question "is it just a few that will be saved?" Jesus calls his hearers to struggle to get through the narrow gate. We can be sure that he means that it has never been easy to choose the path of life and entrance is not gained easily. This text has often been misused and interpreted as only a few people would go to heaven. God has sacrificed his only son to save all people. The book of Revelation speaks not of a few selected but the countless multitudes (Rev 21:8). God invites all to his son's wedding feast. The parable of the man who was thrown from the wedding hall we read in the Gospel shows that the hall was indeed well filled.

The only way we can show that we have come to know God is by keeping His commandments. God does not adapt to our situation, therefore we should not sort out certain religious truths that do not fit us and only select those we like.  People in our time have a tendency to try to make for themselves Christianity according to individual tastes or preferences. We have forgotten that God's thoughts and behavior surpass human thoughts. Our limited human mind cannot fully understand God's actions in life. Those who argue on the basis of mere human reason cannot see the finger of God in history, his glory goes past them and they cannot be his messengers in the world.

The Church is a community of believers who gather in the name of God. All are called to the Church, to share in her grace. But there are only few who really enter into this community. In practice not all perceive God's call. Many people do not have any idea that there is a feast that they have been invited to. For those who are in the Church, who have started partaking in this feast already here on earth, there are certain conditions to meet. God wants all who participate in his feast to wear wedding garment. "Blessed are those who have washed their robes. They must have access to the tree of life and go into the city through the gates "(Rev. 22:14). Being chosen is a gift, but at the same time a task, a responsibility to assist more to hear God's invitation and in turn be chosen. We are called to be God's co-workers (1Cor 3:9). The Eucharist is heaven come to earth. Humans receive the food of angels. It is faith and the sacraments which give us the wedding garment. Those who do not live in the light of faith reside in the dark. The only way to remain in the festive joy and light is to receive and keep the wedding garment Jesus offers us. The narrow gate is wider for those who immerse themselves in the word and sacrament.

Friends, recently I met someone who asked me what the view of the Church is about the crimination of the dead. In the Creed we profess that we believe in the resurrection of the body. If believers will at the last Day be raised with their bodies, how then will it be with those who were criminated at death? Many of us may have pondered on this question. This issue assumes importance when viewed in the light of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mary body and soul into heaven which we celebrate today. The Church teaches that when Mary had finished her earthly life, she was assumed body and soul into the heavenly glory (dir Catechism 966). Once again, I had the opportunity of witnessing how increasingly important the Virgin Mary has become for many Christians, even for those who sometimes seem indifferent to her. Last Sunday during our well attended coffee after Mass in English, we shared Rosaries to all who were present. It was an up lighting experience to see how all (Catholics and non Catholics) took it and hung it on themselves.

The great reverence and devotion the Church through the centuries has shown the Blessed Virgin Mary is not a human invention. It is difficult to understand why some Christians are afraid to give her the space she deserves in their life. God was the first to honour her by chosen her to be the mother of God. It means that the honour we give to Mary is the will of God. On two different occasions in the gospel of John, Jesus calls his mother, "woman". The first time was at the wedding at Cana in Galilee and the other time was on the cross at the crucifixion (19:25-26). The word "woman" in this context refers to the first woman, Eve, because Eve was the mother of the living. The Virgin Mary is the first woman in a different way. She is the woman whose son will trample the head of the one who caused the fall from paradise (Gen 3:20).

In the first reading we have an account of what might be called a cosmic battle between light and darkness. The evil one waits to devour the child that is to be born. This child was protected from this evil hand to give him time to accomplish his mission. At the appointed time, he had to go through suffering and death and then resurrection. Obviously, one must go through the physical process that the world calls "death" to enter in life. Maria shares the fate of Jesus. She was not allowed to experience corruption. The Saints have always understood death as the entry into life. "I do not die, I go in life," said Therese of the Child Jesus on her death bed. The death day of Saints has always been referred to by the Church as 'dies natalis', their birthday. To die is to be born to heavenly life. It is returning to life. This conception of death is captured by Christ "I return to the Father ", Jesus says (Jn 16:10). Death has been defeated. The victory is won, St Paul writes (1Cor 15:54).

In today's Preface to the Holy Mass, we hear: "Her assumption to heaven on this day was a sign of what to expect throughout your Church, a sign of hope and a wonderful comfort to your people on their journey through time". Surely this means that nothing of Mary's personality has been lost at her death. All of her being has been assumed into heaven. The tradition of the Church about the Virgin Mary's death provides a very practical insight into the final destination of humanity. The Virgin Mary shows what every person who believes in Christ will be part of. Those who die in communion with God will be admitted to heaven body and soul. We do not know and do not need to know if this occurs immediately, or after a purification process or at the last Day, Nevertheless, it is important to know that we are admitted to heaven, it will not be half of our being, but with our whole personality.

Abraham is our father in faith because he believed in God's promises to him. When he left Ur of the Chaldeans, it was not only a physical journey of geography. It was an inner journey. It is a picture of our life's journey. He is the archetype of all that is on the way to a promised land that is not here on earth. Together with Abraham, Mary is the great examples for all believers. We are invited to believe in God's promises. Is there anything more promising than what has been promised us in Jesus' resurrection? In Abraham, God entered into a covenant with humanity and promised something that he fulfilled in the resurrection of Jesus. God cannot lie. Jesus is leading us to glory through his incarnation, suffering on the cross and resurrection. In the new covenant, in which we live, Mary is Abraham's counterpart, as she believed that the promise made to her would come true. She is the daughter of Abraham, not only by her ethnic ancestry, but above all by her faith. Mary understood that God's mercy on those who fear him endures from generation to generation. Every evening the Church joins Mary in singing, virgin, daughter of Zion, daughter of Abraham: "He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers" (Luke 1:54 - 55).

Cistercian monk Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153) writes that there is no other way to approach God's love than to move closer to Jesus. Reaching out in this context means to constantly remember Jesus' words and deeds, his life and suffering, and then imitate it in one's own life. The Virgin Mary is the one who has come closest to God. She brought God into the world, she bore Jesus, took care of him, breast fed him and watched him grow. To be acquainted with her, to become close friends with her is a way to get to her son as close as possible. Here the angel Gabriel and Elizabeth show us the way. The angel proclaims that Mary is full of grace. Mary conveys God's grace in our everyday lives. We can hide under her mantle. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women (men) and blessed the child you carry within you." Behold all generation will call her blessed. The Virgin Mary is praised blessed by all generations, not just because she is the Saviour's mother but because she heard God's word and believed (Luke 1:42). She is the perfect model for all believers. St Cyprian understood this when he writes that for us to have God as our Father through Jesus, our brother, then we must have Mary as our mother. God prepared a refuge for us. He has also prepared a place for us. For now salvation and power and the kingdom belong to God and power to his anointed, Jesus.

We rejoice with the angelic hosts, and are happy that we already live the life of glory in the perspective of Mary. She is clothed with the Sun and she will always shine for her children. Her life has shown that not only Jesus but all believers are called to a resurrected and glorious life. We are protected from the attack of the evil one as long as we are under her mantle. An increasing number of Christians are appreciating the role of Mary in our salvation. They are discovering that they can certainly come closer to Jesus through her. We witness this here in our congregation as demonstrated by how Catholics and non-Catholics received the rosaries we distributed last Sunday. Is it not wonder and God's work that the Lutheran church where we celebrate our liturgies allow us to place the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the entrance where many go and light candles! The icons of the Mother of our Saviour and our mother are becoming a common sight in many protestant circles. Praised be the Lord!