Sunday reflections

If you happen to take a road trip in the United States, you may see an advertisement for a local tourist attraction that is said to be the ‘World’s Largest’, for example, the world’s largest Thermometer or the world’s largest Mailbox.

It’s easy enough to be invisible in our society, just be poor. We often don’t see the outsiders, who become the nobodies, and then, quite literally, we remove them from our sight – to cheap motels, to grotty boarding houses, to the edges of our cities, to Christmas Island, while not forgetting those who lie at our gates in what we call the ‘Third World’: out of sight so they might all be kept out of mind.  

Human nature doesn’t seem to change very much. Writing some 750 years before the coming of Christ, the prophet Amos is complaining about the rich and powerful exploiting the poor and oppressed. 

The central claim of our faith is summarised by St Paul in today’s readings. “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

We often speak of learning from our mistakes, even though we sometimes fail to do so. Likewise, if you are interested in sport, you will often hear sportsmen or women speak of “taking the positives” from a contest they have lost, especially if it’s a narrow loss. 

In today’s gospel, we see again how deeply Jesus understands our human condition. He had watched how people behave when they attend a dinner gathering and noticed how they presume to seat themselves in positions of honour.

In “Walking in a Relaxed Manner”, Sister Joyce Rupp described how despite months of training and preparation, she never anticipated how difficult her 825 km walk on the Camino would be. She was often at the mercy of the weather and challenged by the rugged terrain.

Bearing in mind that Luke begins his gospel with stories surrounding the birth of Jesus and the angels joyfully singing – Glory to God in the highest heaven, and PEACE to people who enjoy his favour – it is not unreasonable for us to answer the Lord’s question with “Yes”.

A priest walked into a bar and made an announcement. “Anyone who wants to go to heaven, please stand up now.”

The story is told of a rich industrialist who was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked.