CO_November16

Dear friends,
Over the past couple of weeks, one
of the stories that made headlines
was the perks of politicians that many argue
fail the pub test. They say our MPs gain
from highly generous ‘entitlement’ schemes
including superannuation payments,
retirement benefits, Life Gold Passes, etc.
At the heart of this debate, they contend,
is not just the system needs fixing but also
the sense of entitlement that goes against our
deeply held Australian concept of “a fair go”.
We might resent such entitlements and
those who benefit from them. However,
there is another sense of entitlement that is
more innate, more subtle and more pervasive
in all of us.
This is the mentality that attributes our
successes and achievements to ourselves. It
leads us to claim credit for what we have and
it makes us less appreciative of the gratuity of
God’s grace. More importantly, this mentality
inclines us to be judgmental of those less
fortunate than we are and blame them for
their predicaments and failures.
The Word of God today exposes such a
mentality as fundamentally self-serving
and delusional. Jesus tells the parable of the
Pharisee and the tax collector in a way that
cuts through layers of human prejudices.
The Pharisee is often held up as an example
of moral uprightness. Yet through the prism
of Jesus, he is seen as self-serving and
delusional. The Pharisee is the person with
the ultimate sense of entitlement.
He attributes his moral superiority to
himself: “I thank you, God, that I am not
grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of
mankind.” He is totally blind to his self-made
and self-earned illusion.
As a result, he is unable to see that there is
a shared humanity between him and the tax
collector. He puts himself above the latter: “I
am not like this tax collector here.”
As far as Jesus is concerned, it is not
self-made righteousness but empathy
and compassion that truly matter. The
THE BISHOP'S DIARY – NOVEMBER 2016
2 7.30pm: Celebrates Solemn Holy Mass for All Souls
Day in St Patrick's Cathedral, Parramatta.
THE BISHOP'S HOMILY
Most Rev Vincent Long OFM Conv
3 Attends a meeting of the Bishops of the Province of
New South Wales.
4 7.30pm: Celebrates Holy Mass with RCIA and
Sacramental Teams from the Diocese at St Patrick’s
Cathedral, Parramatta.
6 Celebrates Holy Mass for Back to McAuley Day at
Catherine McAuley Westmead.
9 6pm: Attends a gathering of the Religious of the
Diocese, St Joseph’s Centre for Reflective Living,
Baulkham Hills.
10 Attends a meeting of the Australian Catholic Social
Justice Council, Justice, Ecology & Development.
11 3.30pm: Hosts a Thank You afternoon tea for World
Youth Day 2016 Leaders.
Homily for 30 th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta, 23 October 2016
Pharisee fails the litmus test of authentic
discipleship because of his lack of empathy
and compassion.
The tax collector, on the other hand,
is praised because free from any sense of
entitlement, he is totally open to the gratuity
of God’s grace.
This is the hard message of the Gospel. It
disarms us because it takes away the security
that we rely on in terms of who we are, what
we have and the sense of worth that is linked
with our successes and achievements.
The parable of Jesus says that the Pharisee
is not more valued than the tax collector
because of the badge of honour he wears,
the status he has or the social prestige he is
entitled to.
It challenges the notion that we deserve
more than others because of what we have
inherited or earned: our talents, gifts,
contributions or our race, religion and other
accidents of birth. Jesus consistently tells us
that God does not see things the way we see
nor judge people the way we judge.
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus,
the Good Samaritan or the 11 th hour worker
convey this same message: God looks upon
the humble who recognise the gratuity of his
love, rather than the proud who boasts about
his own record of achievements.
Brothers and sisters,
The Word of God thus challenges us about
our relationship with God and with one
another. If God refuses the proud and hears
the cry of the humble poor, we cannot but
identify ourselves with them.
We cannot be the disciples of Jesus and
think and act merely in terms of what we
are entitled to by virtue of our birthright or
conquest. None of us could be saved if God
applied the strict justice on the basis of our
merits and failings.
The parable is actually designed to prod
at our sense of entitlement and our claim
to what is ours at the exclusion of others. It
challenges us to think and act in the way that
God in Jesus has shown us, which is based
If God refuses the
proud and hears the
cry of the humble
poor, we cannot but
identify ourselves
with them.
on the justice of the kingdom and the very
mercy of God.
Pope Francis often comes into sharp
criticism even from Catholic circles because
of the way in which he lives out the message
of God’s gratuitous love and mercy. In an age
of trickled down economy and entitlement,
he challenges us to see and value people the
way Jesus taught and showed us.
His embrace of refugees, Muslims,
prisoners … is quite frankly confronting.
If tax collectors, Samaritans, lepers, etc …
were the beneficiaries of God’s unstinting
goodness, who are we to exclude the outcasts
of today?
If the socially marginalised, the ritually
unclean, the morally inferior, etc … found
favour in the company of Jesus, who are
we to judge as not entitled to what we are
entitled to?
Let us pray that like St Paul who turned
away from his self-made illusion after
his Damascus experience, we learn to be
humble, open and docile to God’s way. May
we learn to see the way God would see and
it is often from the bottom up or from the
vantage point of the outcast rather than from
a privileged position.
May our lives and prayers be led by a
humble spirit and acceptable to God. May
we grow in empathy and compassion after
Christ’s generous and loving heart.
13 8.30am: Celebrates Holy Mass for the 33 rd Sunday in
Ordinary Time with the Blessing of Our Lady of the
Nativity Church, Lawson; 6pm: Celebrates Holy Mass
of the 33 rd Sunday in Ordinary Time with the Closing
of the Holy Door for the Extraordinary Jubilee of
Mercy at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Parramatta.
15 7pm: Confers the Sacrament of Confirmation at
St John the Evangelist Parish, Riverstone.
16 Attends Clergy Professional Standards Workshop.
17 Convenes a meeting of the College of Consultors.
21-25 Attends Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
26 Celebrates Holy Mass of the 1 st Sunday of Advent with
the Rite of Ordination to the Diaconate, St Thomas the
Apostle Parish, Blackburn, Victoria.
CONTENTS
THE BISHOP’S HOMILY...................... 2
LIFE, MARRIAGE & FAMILY...........3, 8
SOCIAL JUSTICE............................ 4, 21
CATHOLIC YOUTH.............................. 5
NEWS & EVENTS.......................... 6, 23
DIOCESAN NEWS......................... 7, 18
CONFRATERNITY OF
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE............... 9, 20
PARISH PROFILE......................... 10-11
DWF APPEAL............................... 12-13
CATHOLIC EDUCATION........... 14-16
INSTITUTE FOR MISSION...............17
OFFICE FOR WORSHIP....................19
YEAR OF MERCY................................22
CatholicOutlook
The official publication of the
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Most Rev Vincent Long OFM Conv
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