Archbishop's Homilies 2006

31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Celebrated By Archbishop Denis Hart
at Tarrawarra Abbey, Yarra Glen
on Sunday, 5th November, 2006 at 10.30am

Homily

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews emphasised the importance of the priesthood in the Church, stressing that Christ, our great High Priest, has offered himself once and for all on the cross.  Every other priest is configured to him in bringing the mysteries of life to all of us.  Indeed, the language of the Reading which stresses that Jesus is High Priest, separate from sinners and higher than the heavens, is in the context that the Letter to the Hebrews is addressed to Christians who have stagnated in their faith.  The chosen people had failed to enter the Promised Land because of their lack of faith.

For Christians Christ has delivered us; but we still await the complete freedom which we will have when he returns.  We are exhorted not to lose faith on the way lest we fail to enter God’s presence.

Perhaps we can become bored with the routine of faith, which can become merely a matter of fulfilling customs, but lacking the fire that gives vitality and direction to daily life.  Many lay people in the Church today expect the Church to be there for births, deaths and marriages, but otherwise life is little affected by what we profess each week in the Eucharist.

We, here today, are invited to celebrate a faith in the Risen Jesus that gives us an entirely new direction in our lives.  The Word of God gives light to our faith.  The bread of the Eucharist strengthens us for everyday joys and struggles.

Above all, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus is the centre of our lives, because the sacrifice of the cross is a constant source of new life for us, a way of invigorating us again and again.  What had to be done for us was done by Jesus; we do not need to go elsewhere.  Jesus, who shared our human state, can now raise us up to a renewal of our faith.

Notice what he did.  He has been faithful in serving God and has been tested as we are.  Jesus was very much of this world and his experience is very much what we are up against in our life.  We have limitations that are sinful, but because of Jesus and his sacrifice a permanent relationship with God is available to us.  Even though we feel unworthy we know Jesus’ compassion as our High Priest.

In whatever way we serve others we show the love of Jesus.  When we give of our time and suffer the inconvenience of interruption, we are making a public sacrifice.  When we remain trusting despite sickness or limitation of old age, we are proclaiming the Gospel from a worldly pulpit.  When we resist daily temptations and dishonest shortcuts at work, we are making present to us all the highlight of the holiness of the one High Priest, who is always there to save those who approach God through him.

This is the essence of loving God with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with all our mind and all our strength.  (Mark 12:30)  Love of God and neighbour is not an isolated matter.  It is a clear focus of a search for God in our lives and of the witness to him that we show in our human dealings.

As we continue this week, let us remember that keeping the words of the Lord close to our heart encircles us with the love of the Father and Son and brings them to us.  At the Communion we will sing, “Lord you will show me the path of life and fill me with joy in your presence”, as a reminder that God’s love is constant; if we walk with him our joy is permanent, his presence never deserts us.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.