Readings:
1 Kings 18:41-46
Matthew 5: 20-26
Our society seems to thrive on ‘bad news’! Each night when we watch on the 7.00PM ABC News, or News updates during the day, most of the stories that we see are either sad stories of victims of War, bloodshed, court cases of heinous crimes, or ‘Gotcha’ moments when someone has been caught for embezzlement, pork barrelling or cheating in marriage.
However, because Good News does not sell Papers or catch the eye of News profiteering Companies, so much goodness abounds here and there, and fortunately, we are recipients of living among people who are the unsung heroes in our society. However, having been a Companion to families grieving the loss of their dear ones at many Funerals over the years, I often wonder if the person in the Coffin has heard in their lifetime, half the good things that people say about them in the Eulogies.
God’s Word today invites us to be holistic listeners, as we see in the First Reading from the First Book of Kings, so that we can truly hear the life-giving invitations, and be present to the signs of them calling us to new life! In the Gospel, we are called to be ‘fair dinkum’ in our relationships with one another and look for ‘goodness and truth’ in others. Hence the degree in which we do this in daily life, is the authentic expression of our love of God. Food for thought!
Kevin Walsh is a priest in the Diocese of Parramatta in Sydney. He has been formed in the Passionist tradition, and Ministers to the Aged, the Sick, the Dying and the Bereaved.