Fr. Michael Williams

Occasionally when I visit the hospital, I will see someone and they will see me, and the fear of God overcomes them. You can see them thinking, ‘Oh no, it’s the priest!’, Occasionally someone might say, ‘Is it bad news Father?’; but I will say ‘No, its good news that I bring’. And then they look at me even more suspiciously.

Today’s gospel tells us about John the Baptist who ‘exhorted the people and announced the Good News to them’. Firstly, John exhorts the people; he calls the people to conversion, to a change of lifestyle: ‘If anyone has two tunics he must share with the one who has none, and the one with something to eat must do the same’. Sharing our material goods with others is an essential part of the Good News. To only be concerned with one’s own welfare, and to ignore the needs of those with nothing, is a grave sin. The prophet calls us to be generous with those who don’t have anything.

John the Baptist also calls for, ‘No intimidation! No extortion!’ In other words no bullying, and no manipulating others, for one’s own advantage. John is calling us to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives: ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control’.

Secondly, John ‘announces the Good News to the people’; the Good News of Christ’s coming into the world. No doubt there were those suspicious of this News in John’s day, just as people can be suspicious of the Good News in our own day. To counteract this suspicious mentality, Pope Benedict once said:

‘If we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing of what makes life free, beautiful and great…Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and He gives you everything. When we give ourselves to Him, we receive a hundredfold in return’.

Putting our faith and trust in the Good News of Christ means that we know God has not abandoned us in our weakness and failings, but He has come to save us from them, and bring us into His own wonderful light. That is why St Paul says, ‘I want you to be happy, always happy in the Lord’. To accept Christ is to accept a joy (a happiness), and a peace that the world cannot give. When someone has Christ as a foundational part of their life, they have a deep joy and peace within them.

Last week I visited a man called Phil (he was brought to Mass last week in a wheelchair from Ward A). I’ve have known him and his wife for some years from churchy events. When I visited him he did not look fearful when he saw the priest, he looked joyful because I was bringing Christ to him in the Sacraments. I was bringing Him Good News, and he knew that because he was a man of faith. He had a deep joy that did not eliminate his sufferings, but enabled him to endure them, because the joy of knowing Christ was very real for him. Phil went home last week seemingly recovered from his heart attack. But I heard yesterday from one of his parishioners from Star of the Sea, Seaforth, that he had had an unexpected turn for the worst and he died yesterday. He went to the Lord of all joy, whom he built his life upon.

Knowing Christ, and making Him part of one’s life, is Good News. The prophet Zephaniah calls on those who experience the Lord in their lives to:

‘Shout for joy! Rejoice, exult with all your heart…the Lord your God is in your midst, He will renew you by His love’.

Let us be witnesses to the joy of the Good News, to those people we share our lives with. Because the joy that Christ offers people, lasts a lot longer than tinsel and turkey. The joy Christ wants to give us will last an eternity.