Four minutes homilies  By  cover art

Four minutes homilies

By: Joseph Pich
  • Summary

  • Short Sunday homilies. Read by Peter James-Smith
    © 2023 Four minutes homilies
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Episodes
  • 13 Sunday B Sick woman
    Jun 24 2024

    Sick woman

    We can imagine the scene. We have seen it on the tv news from the Middle East, a religious leader surrounded by men, people trying to touch him, to get some power from him. The apostles were shielding Jesus, pushing people away. They say that when people try to touch a person in this way, the arms and hands are scratched, specially by women with their fingernails. It must have been hard for her to touch Jesus. She was a weak person, losing blood all the time. The Fathers of the Church see this woman as the Gentiles, who through faith were saved. We are represented by this woman, sick and in need of healing, losing our blood through our sins.

    We don’t know how many times she tried to touch Jesus. She persevered, over and over again, without getting discouraged. She knew that Jesus was her last hope. She had spent all her money on physicians and only got worse. It is a veiled criticism of doctors. The apostles pushed her away time after time. She tried from different angles, for the apostles not to recognise her. She gives us an example of perseverance, of stubbornness. We need to begin and begin again all the time. We need to try to touch Jesus through the Eucharist, through the sacrament of confession, through our prayer. We need to find the way, the button to push. He is there and we need more faith to reach his mantle.

    Eventually she only managed to touch the fringe of Jesus’ cloak. But this was enough; she was immediately healed. Jesus is so powerful that even his garments give away grace, energy and power. Imagine his flesh when we go to Communion. Many people were touching him, but only she was healed. Why? Because she touched him with real faith, knowing that Jesus was very holy. Saint Ambrose says that we should touch Jesus not with our fingers, but with our faith, knowing that he is the Son of God. If our faith is weak, we don’t have anything to touch him with. We need to ask him to increase our faith, so that we can be strong, so that we can reach the depths of his heart.

    Blessed Bishop Alvaro used to bring this Gospel to his prayer just before Mass. She touched him, we eat him; she touched his garment, we eat his flesh; she was losing blood, we drink his blood. We need to approach him from behind, with fear and reverence. We only need to take what we need; don’t be greedy. We are touching the infinite power of God, be careful, we can blow up easily. It is a bit like touching an electric cable, or putting our hand into the lion’s mouth. Our sins are like insulators; they don’t allow us to experience his power.

    Jesus stopped and asked: “Who has touched me?” The apostles were puzzled: “Everybody is touching you.” Jesus answered: “Power has gone out of me.” Why did he have this reaction if he knew what had happened? It was for us to know the miracle. If he hadn’t asked this question, we would never had known. A lot of things happened around Jesus that we don’t know. Most of the important things occur in the center of people’s souls. They will never appear on the news. All of us can talk about the little miracles that happened to us.

    josephpich@gmail.com

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    4 mins
  • 12 Sunday B Calming of the storm
    Jun 18 2024

    Calming of the storm

    I love this Gospel. We can see ourselves in the boat with Jesus, surrounded by a beautiful lake. It is still there; these natural elements don’t change. But it can become ugly. It is our experience of life. The sea in the Bible represents man depending on God’s mercy; anything could happen, we are not in control. We all have experienced good days and bad days. Why couldn’t life be good and beautiful? Because we are passing by; this is not our homeland. We are crossing the lake of life from one shore to the other, from the beginning to eternity. We don’t know how long it is going to take; we cannot see the other side. In any moment a storm can break out and we need to be ready. We cannot grow complacent and let the boat take its course. The devil is surrounding us like a roaring lion.

    But we cannot forget that Jesus is in our boat. Or even better, we are with him. Even though many times he looks like he is asleep, he is always with us unless we push him out of our boat. We allow him to stay when the sun is shining and the birds are singing. But many times, when the storm comes, the wind blows and the waves beat against the hull of our boat, we push him away without thinking. No matter what happens, we cannot afford to sail without Jesus.

    This scene in the Gospel of today is the only one where we see Jesus sleeping. He was so tired that he fell asleep and the storm didn’t wake him up. The apostles were so afraid that they woke him up. They didn’t allow him to rest. Saint Therese of Liseux has a beautiful quotation about letting Jesus keep resting: “Far from experiencing any consolation, complete aridity - desolation, almost - was my lot. Jesus was asleep in my little boat as usual. How rarely souls let Him sleep peacefully within them. Their agitation and all their requests have so tired out the Good Master that He is only too glad to enjoy the rest I offer Him. I do not suppose He will wake up until my eternal retreat, but instead of making me sad, it makes me very happy.” We are too quick to wake him up, to complain about what’s happening to us. Every storm in our lives has a meaning; we need to pray to find the clues. We either collapse mentally or we grow.

    Jesus stood up and calmed the storm in one go. He complained about us, not letting him rest, and about our lack of faith, our lack of trust in him. With one word he can calm any storm in our lives. He knows what we are going through, and normally lets things happen. We need to trust in him, knowing that he is in our little boat with us. Once a man crossed the Niagara Falls walking on a cable pushing a wheel barrow. When he arrived at the other side people cheered him. He asked them if he should do it again. All encouraged him. He asked if anybody wanted to travel on the wheel barrow. You could hear a pin drop. We find it difficult to trust others.

    The Gospel says that the apostles were very impressed with Jesus, saying: Who is this guy? Even the wind and the waves obey him. The four Gospels include this scene; it made a big impression on them. We know who he is and what he can do. We go to Mary our mother, Refuge of Sinners, Ark of the Covenant.

    josephpich@gmail.com

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    4 mins
  • 11 Sunday B The mustard seed
    Jun 11 2024

    The mustard seed

    Today Jesus tries to explain the kingdom of heaven through two parables, using a comparison about seeds. He loves using natural images from the fields, from the human experience of farmers of that time. Unlike us, seeds were very important to them. We don’t normally buy seeds and plant them in the ground, unless you have a vegetable garden. But for those people seeds were the future. They had to plan how they were going to eat during the months ahead. We have supermarkets; all we need is money.

    Seeds tell us about how things grow. It is a mysterious process that escapes our control. It shows us the power of nature; things grow in the most amazing places. It is the same with God’s things. He has his plans and has the power to produce fruit whenever he wants, wherever he wills. You learn a lot reading the history of the Church. How things are born small, grow to an amazing size and then they disappear. It is a circle that comes and goes. It is easy for us human beings to become proud of the achievements of God. We think that we are doing something, and all we do is to be a spanner in the works. Once pride comes in, God runs away. It is very important for us not to think that we are indispensable, that we are at the same level as God. We are just little children being more of a nuisance than any help.

    Sometimes we doubt that God is in control. We can hardly notice the seeds sprouting, we don’t see the fruits, the actions of God in society. On the contrary, we touch more the machinations of the evil one, the hand of the devil clearly present among us. From our point of view we see only a flat terrain. John Paul II used to talk about the new evangelisation, a new spring in the Church. He could see it from his vantage point. We cannot see it with our large egos.

    Pope Francis commenting on this parable says that “Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a small grain of mustard seed. It is a very small grain, but it grows to become the largest of all plants in the garden: unpredictable growth, surprising. It is not easy for us to enter into this logic of the unpredictable nature of God and to accept it in our own lives. But today the Lord exhorts us to have an attitude of faith that goes beyond our projects, our calculations, our forecasts. God is always the God of surprises, the Lord always surprises us. It is an invitation to open ourselves more generously to God’s plans.”

    God normally works in this way, like the mustard seed. Things always begin small, with few people, sometimes with just a holy person, with a slow gradual process, quietly growing under the soil, with time to mature. God’s kingdom keeps growing. How did the Franciscans begin? Through a voice to a young man: rebuild my Church. It is something amazing, to look at the hand of God working through history. You cannot see it at a particular moment, but you notice it in the long run.

    josephpich@gmail.com

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    4 mins

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