18th Sunday of the Year
St Mary's Cathedral - 4 August 2002
Isa. 55: 1-3, Rom. 8: 35. 37-39, Mt 14:13-21
+ Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
4 Aug 2002
On Friday the last group of Sydney pilgrims returned from attending World Youth Day in Toronto, Canada. It was a wonderful occasion humanly and religiously and merits some reflections this morning.
By coincidence Matthew's Gospel recounts another significant gathering of people who followed Jesus into the countryside to hear him teach and to be cured of their sicknesses. They numbered 5,000 men, not counting the women and children.
The numbers grew at the successive functions at the World Youth Day. 200,000 came to the Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto's opening Mass; 400,000 to welcome the Pope on Thursday night and 800,000 attended the final Mass on last Sunday.
These gatherings are separated by nearly 2000 years and a host of other differences, but they were united by one central fact. Both groups came to celebrate the presence and teachings of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary.
In both groups many would have come from mixed motives; out of curiosity, a relief from boredom, with the hope of a cure from Jesus in the Gospel story; or because they wanted an overseas trip to Canada more recently or because they were encouraged by family.
At the centre of it all in both cases, in the overwhelming majority, is faith in and love for Jesus Christ. The Pope made this point again and again in his homilies. We can only be salt of the earth or light of the world because Christ is the light of the world and we let the light of Christ shine through us. This is easily said, but it is a life-long task.
Paul writing to the small Christian community of Rome expresses this beautifully, because he had an extraordinary love for Christ and had come to understand Christ's eternal significance hidden behind the everyday details of his daily life, his suffering and death and the vindication of his resurrection.
No problem at all, he claimed, could come between him and the love of God made visible in Jesus Christ. At times we can all be tempted to blame God for some misfortune; a job is lost, a romance turns sour, a husband or wife, a young parent dies out of time. In particular the Old Testament is full of these laments and reproaches.
God understands these feelings, but we need to battle against them, especially in prayer, especially by prayer when we do not feel like praying. Paul knew of these temptations because he himself had been imprisoned, shipwrecked, beaten for his missionary work. And of course the Christians of Rome had to be very careful and would soon suffer persecution themselves.
The point of the World Youth Day is to strengthen the faith of our young Catholics; in our case the 304 16 to 30 year olds from Sydney. The faith and enthusiasm of other young people from 167 other nations reminded them they were not alone and for most, perhaps all of them, their faith was deepened by regular prayer, by the wonderful sense of friendship and community that was built up, and by the excellent leadership and example of the lay group leaders a half of them teachers a and the presence and support of the young priests who accompanied the group.
At Honolulu I was waiting in the airport lounge with the pilgrims and asked the young university student next to me how things had gone. It was terrific, he answered. I commented that I thought we had also made some religious progress, some deepening of faith. Quick as a flash he replied "that was what I meant".
When we have faith and come to realise this, we have a great blessing and benefit, but this brings added responsibilities. It is like being born into a good family, or studying at a genuinely good school (and I do not just mean academically); we are expected to do better than those who are born and bred surrounded by bad example and an absence of love.
Today Jesus has no hands but ours. In the Gospel he multiplied the loaves and fishes, and used the disciples to distribute them. Today we have to follow the Christian teachings and to bring healing and help, to work for social justice, to strengthen the family, to join in the struggle for life.
May the Catholic community in Sydney continue to take up this challenge.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and oft the Holy Spirit. Amen.
