What does it mean to teach with authority? Why were the people so caught up and taken by the words of Jesus? Very simply teaching with authority means that a person lives what he or she says. Teaching with authority means that what we say is reflected in how we live. That there is no difference between our way of acting and our way of believing and living. This is what people recognised in Jesus. Jesus was a person of integrity. Consequently, what he had to say made an impact on them. It made them stop and take notice. Ralph Waldo Emerson, was one of the great literary figures of nineteenth century America. He was a very influential lecturer, and a poet. He wrote many works and became one of his country's most vital voices. He was fiercely opposed to slavery and political corruption. In one of his essays he wrote something that gives a very clear meaning of what it means to teach with authority. He wrote "only so much do I know as I have lived. Instantly we know whose words are loaded with life. I learn immediately from any speaker how much he has lived. One person speaks from within, or from experience as a possessor of the fact; another person speaks from without, as a spectator, or as acquainted with the facts on the evidence of a third person. It is no use to preach to me from without. I can do that myself."
Jesus is that type of person. When he speaks not only people stop and listen, but also His words transform what seems to be disasters and tragedies into triumphs. In today's gospel Jesus was confronted with a very troubled person crying out "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? In effect this man was saying to him. I have no hope, I have no good in me. I am not worthy of your care and interest. I am crippled and can do nothing more. What was Jesus' reaction. No you are good, you are important. There are certain things in your life that are preventing you from being the person that I created you to be. I want to free you. I want to make you reach your full potential. Be cured. Be healed.
Today St Augustine's parish Kyabram is in the mist of a great challenge, and a great opportunity. It is with deep sadness that we say goodbye to our Augustinian priests and brothers after being in the diocese for one hundred and twenty four years, and in the Parish of Kyabram for one hundred and three years. The Diocese cannot at this point in time have a resident priest in the parish. In his kindness, generosity and commitment to the priesthood and parish life, Fr Michael Morley has consented to assume overall pastoral responsibility in addition to his Parish of Tatura. How are we as a parish, as a diocese and as a Church going to embrace this situation?
We embrace it as people who have Jesus Christ, our God of integrity living within us. We embrace it as people who are fully alive with the life-giving presence of our God in our hearts and in every part of our being. We embrace it by continuing our commitment to our prayer life, practice of our faith and faithfulness to our responsibilities. We embrace it by continuing to be light in time of darkness, to bring hope whenever there is despair, to bring courage where there is despondency, and to bring life in the time of death. We have been gifted and graced by so many amazing qualities. We have been nurtured for many years with solid teaching and spiritual food. We have celebrated so often our unity as Catholic people even though we are all different.
Therefore we are well equipped to say No to what divides us and to say Yes to what unites us. To Say No to what tries to put us down and Yes to what sustains and encourages us, to say No to any feeling of helplessness or defeat and Yes to what energizes us. We do all this because we believe that this God who created us in His own image is here at this very moment stirring us, encouraging us, forgiving us, stirring us and fashioning us. We do all this because God is here and we are in God.
My brother Augustinians, I was so touched by what you are going to do tomorrow at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo. You are going to meet to celebrate the Eucharist in the mother church of our Diocese; a great and wonderful place of worship started by one of your own priests, Bishop Martin Crane. Then you are going to gather around the resting place of the first two bishops of this diocese, your brother Augustinians. This is where my heart is so full of hope for you. You are officially leaving the diocese acknowledging the hand of God in all the things that you have planted, nurtured, cared for and encouraged in this diocese. At the same time, you are moving forward totally immersed in the power and in the tender healing hands of our God. My brothers, as you continue your journey, remember that you always have a home here, you will always find a welcoming heart. We will treasure and remember with gratitude your presence among us, your insights and your fruitful involvement.
And as I thank you deeply on behalf of the diocese, I make my own the words of your founder St Augustine. "O Lord I am your servant, I am you servant and the son of your handmaid. You have broken my bonds: I will sacrifice to you the sacrifice of praise. Grant that my heart and my tongue may praise you. Grant that all my bones may say "Lord who is like unto you? Grant that they may speak, and deign to answer to me and say to my soul : I am your salvation." (Confessions Bk 9 Chapter 1:1)
