“After hearing Jesus (as he taught in the synagogue at Capernaum), many of his followers said, ‘This is intolerable language! How could anyone accept it?”. (John 6:60)

Maybe once in a while we have met some people who seemed to have everything in life; a good house, a flash car, a high-paying job, manage to travel around the world at a moment’s notice but somehow there’s something that is missing.

The current COVID pandemic has made it so much harder to reach out in ministry to others. This reaching out was something that I previously took completely for granted but now I can only make the best use of those ministerial opportunities that are available, within a seemingly never-ending cycle of lockdowns. So far, we have experienced five lockdowns in Melbourne and have just emerged somewhat from the latest one.

One can be tempted to lose hope that one’s ministry will ever return to those former, more “sunny” times. Some of my ministry, before COVID, had been helping out in neighbouring parishes as well as ministry at a large aged care facility.

This month’s celebration of the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, instituted by Pope Francis, struck a note with me and I’m sure for many others as well.

In my Pacific island culture, the elders in our families and in our villages are deeply honoured and I have beautiful memories of my grandparents and their special role in my life.

Ted Noffs, who died in 1995, was a man very well known to Sydney-siders for more than 30 years. A Methodist/Uniting Church minister, he founded the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross in 1964, as an outreach to society’s most vulnerable people.

There was a company, which was working in the forest and looking for a woodchopper. One day, two woodchoppers applied for the job. The manager said that they would only accept one. So he invited both of them to a test.

Jesus today sends forth his disciples to preach repentance and bring healing to peoples’ lives. The mandate is clear; no possessions, depend on the generosity of the people, but preach repentance and bring healing.

Each one of us, for sure, has stories or quotations from Holy Scripture that are very special. They may be linked to personal needs or simply to moments of personal enlightenment.

To borrow again a story from my friend, Fr Bel San Luis, there was a very devout man who is in his house when there was a huge deluge in town.

There was this story of a boy who was playing on a cruise liner with his alphabet blocks. Then in a few minutes, the ship encountered a storm.