'Repent and believe in the gospel . . . follow me.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland)
Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)
Gospel Mark 1:14-20 (English Standard Version Anglicised: India)
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.
Duringthe cold winter of 1976, Willie and his colleagues found the bodies of a number of older people in tenements throughout the city. They had died in appalling conditions. Willie was so shocked by this that he, and a small group of friends and colleagues began distributing food, fuel and blankets to those older people who were most in need. They also started a campaign to raise awareness of these ‘forgotten old’ in the media and to the government. Today ALONE continues its work providing direct services to thousands of older people as well as campaigning for the rights of older people in our society.
Willie Bermiingham himself recalled one of those incidents: Like many old men and women he had been cast away on the scrap heap. He was left to face loneliness, cold, hunger and depression behind the closed doors of a capital city. He had been sentenced to death, alone and in misery. It shocked me so much that I set up a society called ALONE.
Willie Bermingham, a Dubliner, worked in the ambulance service of Dublin Fire Brigade. Like Simon (Peter) and Andrew, James and John in today's Gospel, he experienced a turning point in his life. For him this was through those experiences of finding elderly persons who had died alone in poverty. He felt in a very real way the words of Jesus, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
In Willie's case, with the full support of his wife Marie and their five children, along with colleagues, he was to be a 'fisher' of elderly men and women living alone in dire conditions in his native city. And he has been followed by many, not only in Dublin, but in other Irish cities in doing this work.
This work is a living out of the words of Jesus: For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me (Matthew 25:35-40).
The call of Peter, Andrew, James and John in today's gospel comes just after a call to repent and believe in the gospel. This is not only a call to turn away from sin but a call to see things as Jesus Christ sees them. This is reinforced by the response to the responsorial psalm: Lord, make me know your ways (JB Lectionary), Teach me your ways, O Lord (NAB Lectionary).
Willie Bermingham responded to a need he saw so clearly through his work with the ambulance service of Dublin Fire Brigade, while living out his basic vocation as a husband and father. In the early years of ALONE the office was the living room in his own home.
Another aspect of Willie's life was his ecumenism. At this time, 18-25 January, we are observing the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Historian Donal Fallon writes: An inspiring friendship blossomed between Bermingham and Dean Victor Griffin of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral [the National Cathedral of the (Anglican) Church of Ireland]. Griffin, much like the earlier Dean Swift, had a distaste for injustice and a strong belief in social duty. In a remarkable life, Griffin protested to save Viking Dublin from demolition, demonstrated against Apartheid and was denounced as a ‘Fenian’ during his time serving the Church of Ireland in Derry.
Griffin and Bermingham came from different religious traditions – Willie came from a Catholic family – yet Griffin opened Saint Patrick’s Cathedral to provide services, complete with choirs, to the homeless and elderly of the city. It was a beautiful act not forgotten, and Bermingham’s own funeral took place at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
Willie Bermingham didn't try to 'save the world'. He responded from his Christian faith to the needs of individuals whose situations he knew of through his work, needs that he and others could respond to. Jesus began his mission, now the mission of the Church, by calling four individuals, two sets of brothers: Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John, to follow me.
Repent and believe in the gospel . . . follow me.
Responsorial Psalm [NAB Lectionary]
Psalm 24 [25]: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Authentic Beauty
Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.
Pope Benedict XVI meeting with artists in the Sistine Chapel, 21 November 2009.
by Robert Burns and sung by Kenneth McKellar
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