SUNDAY ALIVE - Applying the Sunday Readings to everyday life

31st January 2010 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

Jesus compared himself to Elijah and Elisha whose ministry I extended to non-Israelites because their own people rejected them. This, not surprisingly, infuriated and enraged Jesus' hearers making them hellbent on killing him. Following in his Master's footsteps Paul delivered a similar message and received similar treatment. On one occasion, after having been arrested in Jerusalem, he was permitted to address an angry mob who believed, wrongly, that he had defiled the temple by taking a Gentile there. The crowd listened as he told the story of his conversion until he got to the part where the Lord said to him: 'Depart; for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' He had them up to this moment but lost them with this message, and their ferocious anger was re-ignited (see Acts 22:21-22).

The gospel, by its very nature, involves preaching and proclaiming difficult and sometimes even harsh truths. In our society it is not an easy message, for example, to uphold the right of every human being to life. This basic gospel truth is one which certainly invites all manner of hostile reaction. Lord Alton, the great pro-life campaigner, has shared how his efforts to change minds about abortion have resulted in him being spat upon by his fellow MPs as he entered the chamber of the First House.

St John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian Order, was a courageous and tireless campaigner and activist who laboured to uphold the dignity of children, prisoners and those on the margins of society. Towards the end of his life he wrote these words about how to win others for Christ: 'Meekness was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalised and still others to gain hope in God's mercy. Thus he bade us to be gentle and humble in heart.'

The gospel must be preached and proclaimed at all costs. We must do whatever is in our power to uphold the gospel of life in a world which promotes a culture of death. However, we must do so with charity and truth winning hearts to the goodness, the truth and the beauty of Christ.