From a sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux

Another parable in which Jesus tells us that riches are not the way to heaven. It is better to give away your riches - use them for good, as that is an investment in Heaven. This puts the lie to those who preach a prosperity Gospel - the idea that a good life will be rewarded in this - therefore wealth is a sign of goodness!

It is often amusing to read of attempts to make Jesus' parable a reference to narrow gates in walls in Jerusalem. These narrow gates do exist! But Jesus was using the art of hyperbole - that the more extreme an image is the more important the message. There can be few extremes more clearly made than the idea that the largest animal most people of the time would know about, could fit through the smallest hole they might see in days to day life. A Camel, through the eye of a needle! We all know how difficult it can be to get a thread through there!

Let your attention be drawn to Jesus' message - Hoarding riches is not the way to heaven!

To be perfect, we might say, is impossible. Many business studies teachers and 'Gurus' will tell you that perfection is the enemy of success - well, in a world where 2% better than your opponents' 78% is the difference between success and failure, they are right.

But Jesus means it - we should aim for perfection.

Jesus is also the means of our salvation - his actions have made us perfect in the sight of God. So, unlike the businessman, or in the story of the young man in today's Gospel who went away feeling that he could never become perfect, perfection is possible for us and the thought that we can not be perfect, we must remove from our lives. Seek to be perfect, because then the Lord will perfect you. The Apostles taught us this - see Phillipians 3:12, James 1:4, Collisions 1:28 for examples.

How great the tale, that there should be,
In God’s Son’s heart, a place for me!
That on a sinner’s lips like mine
The cross of Jesus Christ should shine!

Christ Jesus, bend me to thy will,
My feet to urge, my griefs to still;
That e’en my flesh and blood may be
A temple sanctified to Thee.

No rest, no calm my soul may win,
Because my body craves to sin;
Till thou, dear Lord, thyself impart
Peace on my head, light in my heart.

May consecration come from far,
Soft shining like the evening star.
My toilsome path make plain to me,
Until I come to rest in thee.

The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Your body is holy and glorious

In their sermons and speeches on the feast day of the Assumption of the Mother of God, the holy fathers and the great doctors of the church were speaking of something that the faithful already knew and accepted: all they did was to bring it out into the open, to explain its meaning and substance in other terms. Above all, they made it most clear that this feast commemorated not merely the fact that the blessed Virgin Mary did not experience bodily decay, but also her triumph over death and her heavenly glory, following the example of her only Son, Jesus Christ.

Thus St John Damascene, who is the greatest exponent of this tradition, compares the bodily Assumption of the revered Mother of God with her other gifts and privileges: It was right that she who had kept her virginity unimpaired through the process of giving birth should have kept her body without decay through death. It was right that she who had given her Creator, as a child, a place at her breast should be given a place in the dwelling-place of her God. It was right that the bride espoused by the Father should dwell in the heavenly bridal chamber. It was right that she who had gazed on her Son on the cross, her heart pierced at that moment by the sword of sorrow that she had escaped at his birth, should now gaze on him seated with his Father. It was right that the Mother of God should possess what belongs to her Son and be honoured by every creature as God’s Mother and handmaid.

St Germanus of Constantinople considered the preservation from decay of the body of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, and its elevation to heaven as being not only appropriate to her Motherhood but also to the peculiar sanctity of its virgin state: It is written, that you appear in beauty, and your virginal body is altogether holy, altogether chaste, altogether the dwelling-place of God; from which it follows that it is not in its nature to decay into dust, but that it is transformed, being human, into a glorious and incorruptible life, the same body, living and glorious, unharmed, sharing in perfect life.

Another very ancient author asserts: Being the most glorious Mother of Christ our saviour and our God, the giver of life and immortality, she is given life by him and shares bodily incorruptibility for all eternity with him who raised her from the grave and drew her up to him in a way that only he can understand.

All that the holy fathers say refers ultimately to Scripture as a foundation, which gives us the vivid image of the great Mother of God as being closely attached to her divine Son and always sharing his lot.

It is important to remember that from the second century onwards the holy fathers have been talking of the Virgin Mary as the new Eve for the new Adam: not equal to him, of course, but closely joined with him in the battle against the enemy, which ended in the triumph over sin and death that had been promised even in Paradise. The glorious resurrection of Christ is essential to this victory and its final prize, but the blessed Virgin’s share in that fight must also have ended in the glorification of her body. For as the Apostle says: When this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the scripture will be fulfilled that says “Death is swallowed up in victory”.

So then, the great Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity by the same decree of predestination, immaculately conceived, an intact virgin throughout her divine motherhood, a noble associate of our Redeemer as he defeated sin and its consequences, received, as it were, the final crowning privilege of being preserved from the corruption of the grave and, following her Son in his victory over death, was brought, body and soul, to the highest glory of heaven, to shine as Queen at the right hand of that same Son, the immortal King of Ages.

He was born on 8 January 1894 in occupied Poland: he joined the Franciscans in Lwów in 1910, and was ordained eight years later

When the Germans invaded in 1939, the community at Teresin sheltered thousands of refugees, most of them Jews.

In 1941 he was arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, where he helped and succoured the inmates. In August of that year a prisoner escaped, and in reprisal the authorities were choosing ten people to die by starvation. One of the men had a family, and Maximilian Kolbe offered to take his place. The offer was accepted, and he spent his last days comforting his fellow prisoners.

The man he saved was present at his canonization.

Maximilian Kolbe’s martyrdom is the least important thing about him. We are none of us likely to find ourselves in a position to emulate his sacrifice, and speculation as to the heroic way in which we would have behaved in his place is a pernicious waste of time. What is important is that he acted the way he did because of who he was – or, rather, because of who he had become. It is because of who he had become that we revere him as a saint: he would have been a saint (though perhaps not canonized) even if he had not been martyred. And that process of becoming is something we can all emulate. We can all become people for whom doing the right thing is obvious, natural, and easy. It requires no heroism, no special gifts: just perseverance, and prayer.

Jesus via Matthew provides us with an example of practical fairness. The one who has done wrong is several times, given an opportunity to repent. If he fails to do so, then there is a consequence to be applied - but he needs to know he has chosen that. Many schools use the same structured approach to behaviour management - very different from the blind obedience to rules prevalent a generation or two ago!

Note also that justice depends upon several people working together, with a focus on salvation for the sinner. Its not a ganging up against someone - as todays' unruly, sometimes violent protests against a class of people because one of them did wrong might be seen to be. No - a combined effort to seek the sinner to ask for AND be given forgiveness is the Lord's way.

Do we ever find ourselves cheering at the TV when some politician speaks about 'the terroist from overseas' or 'the asian rapist' or any one of a number of identifiable groups? That is not the Lords way. Pray for the sinner, and when they show repentance, forgive absolutely and enable salvation. Elsewhere, when asked if 7 times is enough to forgive before giving up on someone's salvation, Jesus says no! 7 time 7 !

I'm glad that is how the Lord looks upon me.

Our Lord may well have chosen a child for an argument in hyperbolic style - common enough in his day. The extreeme case of a child? In his day a child was not considered to be of much value - quite likely due to the very high infant mortality rates. So to make it clear that we must love the lowest of the lowly - that is a trong message. We do need to listen! Elsewhere, Jesus talks of the Apostles sent out to spread the good news as being 'my children', or more litterally int he text ' my little ones'. As JEsus promised, they all came back - and rejoicing at how the good news was recieved.

Who is the lowest of the low in your life? Can you see Jesus loving them? Can you accept his command for you to love them?

Clare was born in Assisi and was influenced by Francis, the founder of the Franciscans. Clare at the age of 18 left home and founded a monastry, later to become known as the Poor Clares. She established a radical rule of poverty, much harsher (if that is the right word, as the nuns chose that way of life) than other orders. Local Bishops several times tried to change her order, to soften the rules, but she always re-wrote them possibly harsher than they were before!

Although over harsh rules either chosen for oneself, or imposed by others, often lead to mental health issues, physical deterioration and self doubt, there is certainty that over laxity does the same. It has long been the case that we need to discipline ourselves to be healthy people, but we need to accept guidance of others to avoid self destruction. The modern rule of poverty that the Poor Clares follow is a great example of how to live a good life and many poor clare sisters provide outstanding health care, catechesis, teaching and pastoral love.