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Church
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The
Jesus I know is no cold, hard Iron-Christ; nor does Jesus
deserve to be reduced to smug, glib and uncompassionate
irrelevancies when the real meaning of His love is what
people need so desperately.
"Who
is Worthy?" Ted Kennedy
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Excerpts
from some Sunday Commentaries
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Today’s gospel ... is a story –
Something made up to deliver a message. I think
the message
might be ‘Lets be open to challenge – even
when, as in this case, the arguments put forward
by
the ones who look like the “good guys” appear
to reflect a fair go and justice. The challenge
of the gospel is “Why are you jealous because
I am generous? … the workers who worked for a
day being paid the same amount and being given
the same status as the johnnie–come–latelys
who worked for an hour!!!!! Well what’s the
deal? – Where is the fulfilment of the Australian
standard of a fair–go??
So we are confronted by the challenge
of the topsy-turvey. In the psalm we hear of
the great compassion and love of God. And
not only is this love and compassion sufficient,
it is abundant and it comes without a deal.
There
is no prior agreement. It is unconditional
and the concept of a fair-go doesn’t really come
into it!!! More food for thought.
Lucy Anne Riley
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“Today’s readings talk about the
independence of food and economics; fulfilment
and loneliness. In Isaiah we hear how thirst
can be quenched with water, wine and milk and
how our bellies can be satisfied with loaves
and fish. Yet the readings are far from advocating
gluttony!
Nourishment is interwoven with
concepts of economy.
-
water and
corn are available - with no money
-
wine and milk
–at not cost.
-
Jesus says
to his disciple not to send the people to the
village to buy their food
Jesus asks his disciples to trust,
not in an abstract idea, but in adopting new
actions, new behaviours. The language is clear:
it’s not about buying a meal for another; but sharing
your meal together.
Dorothy Day did this; Ted Kenndy in this church. Sharing food is not
easy; much more comfortable doing things for others not with them.
Lastly this new economy is not about individuals proclaiming power,
but deep sharing is given as the antidote to loneliness.
We Christians have heard about
the loves and fish for 2000 years but we still
find the thought of an economy based on love
and sharing ridiculous, naive and personally
ruinous!
Catherine De
Lorenzo.
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Why mention the
above scenes as we seek to find a meaning for today’s
readings? Because as I ponder the readings the
theme that comes across is that of fidelity - a
fidelity to our true identities. We need to discover
who we really are. Paramount to this is living
with the tensions that come from opposition. This
I believe is the crux of living out the Gospels. I feel that it is
imperative that we are able to use the parable
of the Good Samaritan as a yardstick for our actions
in life. If we remember the parable we know that
in our hearts the sin of the Levite and the Priest
was not so much that they passed by the broken
man but that it was their religion that made them
do so.
In today’s Gospel Jesus in his inimitable way sets Peter straight. The latter
cannot accept the idea of suffering and the cross. He is telling his friends
what the real meaning of Christ is all about. He will have to show up in Jerusalem
and he must suffer and die and if they, his followers, are to be faithful to
their relationship with him they will have to do the same. ‘Losing’ and ‘gaining’,
‘saving’ and ‘finding’ are very powerful words. His “Cross” was
more than the wood of Calvary, it was the flesh
and spirit, the history and destiny of his whole
life. He offers to us the totality of which we
are, in the personal embrace that he alone can
give. For us as a community it is when we can absorb
into ourselves a sense of communion with the poor
and the afflicted, knowing them, as a part of ourselves
that we know, that life will never be the same
again. We become a voice
for the voiceless, ready to speak the truth when
it even sounds absurd, we seem to become non-conformists,
not quite fitting in and we can even be seen as
slightly ‘bonkers’. That is what following the
Gospel is about and what Jeremiah is living out
as a precursor to Jesus. John Hill |
Commentary
for 27th Sunday
Today’s gospel,
about a vineyard, causes us to reflect
on the many gifts we have been granted. The central
message is to care for and share
our vineyard’s fruits generously, however this is often
either
misconstrued or completely evaded, especially
in our current times. Through this story,
Jesus endeavors to get those listening to him to
recognize
how they have mistreated and often deserted
the gifts they have received. These include: fertile
land and companionship. Nowadays, this
is evident
in the way we refuse to share with asylum
seekers and the poor and marginalized and the way
we
waste resources and abuse creation.
Neo–conservatism
in our current days has progressed to new levels.
It is indeed frightening, the way in which our
obsessions with material things as well as the
individual pursuit of wealth and power have manifested.
Yet one can ask, is our vineyard, which currently
seems to have a gross fixation on the conservation
of such wealth and power, really in tune with
the song that Isaiah sang? This love song which
Isaiah has for the vineyard starts beautifully
and melodically. However, it spirals into a shambolic
clump of notes and tone–deficient chords, then
journeys into a mystified stage and ends on the
ascent, back to a new melody - evidence of a
change beginning in the mindset of the chief
priests.
Closer to our time
is the story of St. Francis of Assisi whose feast
day we celebrate on Tuesday. His life was one
of service and love to God’s creation and the
fruits of the Earth. Isaiah’s love song was heard
again when St. Francis picked up the notes, in
his love and care for his vineyard. We too are
invited to join the chorus.
Sophie Thibaudeau
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Seeking Peace
by Johann Arnold
Excerpt from preface by Thich Nhat
Hanh
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To
work for peace, you must have a peaceful heart.
When you do, you
are a child of God. But many who work for peace are
not at peace. They still have anger and frustration,
and their work is not really peaceful.
To preserve
peace, our hearts must be at peace with the world,
with our brothers and our sisters. We often think
of peace as the absence of war, that if the powerful
countries would reduce their arsenals, we could
have peace. But if we look deeply into the weapons,
we
see our own minds – our prejudices, fears, and
ignorance.
It is something I
try to remember as I ride a subway
or bus, or walk down the crowded streets , or
stand in slow- moving lines at the supermarket.
If God’s
peace is in our hearts, we carry it with us,
and it can be given to those around us, not by
our
own will or virtue, but by the Holy Spirit working
through
us. We cannot give what we do not have, but if
the spirit blows through the dark clouds, and
enters our hearts, we can be used as vehicles of
peace,
and our own peace will be thereby deepened.
The more peace we
give away, the more we have ... |
The Gentle Water Bird.
by John Shaw Neilson
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Long
have I learned that all his speech was true; I cannot
reason it - how far he flew - God is not terrible
nor thunder-blue.
Sometimes, when watching in
the white sunshine,
Someone approaches-I can half define All the calm beauty of that friend
of mine.
Nothing of hatred will about him
cling:
Silent - how silent - but his heart
will sing Always of little children and the
Spring.
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In the
dim days I trembled, for I knew
God was above me,
always frowning through,
And God was terrible
and thunder-blue.
Even the gentle flowers of white
and cream,
The rainbow with its treasury of
dream,
Trembled because of God's ungracious
scheme.
There was a lake I loved in gentle
rain:
One day there fell a bird, a courtly
crane:
Wisely he walked, as one who knows
of pain.
Gracious he was and lofty as a king:
Silent he was, and yet he seemed
to sing
Always of
little children and the
Spring.
Pity was in him for the weak and
strong,
All who have suffered when the days
were long,
And he was deep and gentle as a song.
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David Alexander McPhie
18th Oct 1953 – 3rd Sept.2005
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David
was a multi talented sportsman as a youngster.
He was age champion
in track and field at every high school he went to
which numbered five. No, he didn’t get expelled from
any of them it was just that the family moved around
a fair bit early on because of his father’s work
in the railway.
He excelled in schoolboy
rugby league making many representative teams including
state secondary school trials but just missed out on a place in the state team.
He was the team goal kicker and in one game he kicked 9 out of 90. He was an
amateur heavyweight boxer in his teenage years and never lost a fight against
even those older and more experienced opponents. Mind you he didn’t like the
egg flip his coach recommended he have. I have never seen anything come back
up faster than it went down. He never tried another of the coach’s culinary
tips after that. He used to run the 16kms to training
a few times a week even in the
rain. When he committed himself to something he always followed it through.
He was selected
by the Fitzroy River Lions Club into the Lions
International Youth of the Year contest when he
was 16 and was a school prefect at North
Rockhampton High.
David was very intelligent
and became a primary school teacher in 1975 and
taught at St John Fisher’s Boy’s Primary School in Townsville for a while.
He however
decided that the restrictive way of teaching at a Catholic school was not
his style as he preferred the more hands on approach to teaching. He also
coached
cricket at the school and was popular with the students.
He worked for a
while at radio Redfern where he was an announcer
and he enjoyed his time at the station. This was
for a period during the eighties.
He always had it
in his mind that he wanted to be an electrician
and he started his basics electronic certificate
in 1986 and eventually did
his
apprenticeship
with the Sydney Power Board in his 40’s. He went on to work at Australia
Post maintaining the machines in the mail sorting exchange. Apparently,
one day
one of the machines broke down and David decided that he would take
it apart to find
out what was wrong with it. And, if you have ever seen him pull something
apart you would never think that he would get it back together. He
found a gold coin
that someone had sent through the mail and it had jammed the machine
and yes, he did get it back together again.
David liked to study
and was always doing some Certificate or Diploma
and was just starting to do an Electrical Engineering Degree. He
had only recently
started work with Rail Corp in NSW which was ironic as his father
only ever had one job
and that was with Queensland Rail. He was very excited about the
job even though
it took them 5 months to get him started after he was accepted. Unfortunately
he only had 3 weeks in the job but in that short time made many new
friends who spoke very highly of him.
He was a very patient
person unlike his sister who sometimes found it
very annoying
when he wouldn’t get into an argument about something
with
her.
No matter how
hard she tried he just wouldn’t take the bait. He has been described
by many who knew him as a gentle giant - quiet, patient and giving.
He would
give
his last $10 to someone as he always thought that person needed
it more than he
did. He was never motivated by material possessions and lived a
simple life and mixed
well with anyone on any level.
We spoke to many people who had seen him the night before he passed
away and they all said that he was very happy and he was out celebrating,
getting his
first pay packet from his new job.
He had also won a couple of hundred dollars in the members draw
at his local RSL. He always had the family lucky streak in that
respect.
He
was looking
forward to a new future with a new job in his field of electronic
systems and had made
many notes on plans he had for his future.
He will be missed
by his family and many friends.
Blessing
In keeping with
David’s Aboriginal heritage,
Family will place gum leaves and soil from his
Traditional land over him.
This will help guide
David to the Dreamtime.
David’s traditional
birthright
On his mother’s side is Kalkadoon.
And his grandfather’s is Pitta-Pitta
Farewelling
David into the Dreamtime.
The beginning of
a walkabout. The Aborigine dreams
he must go on a walkabout. A musical description
of the sounds he hears in his dreams.
Goodbye David
- Rest in Peace
From the Funeral
Sheet.
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Collated by Sheila Quonoey
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