My Seven-Minute-Homily, 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time year C, August 11th 2013
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Book of Wisdom 18. 6-9; Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews 11.1-2.8-19
and Gospel of St. Luke 12. 32-48
Today we have very much a continuation of the message from last week’s Readings, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. If you remember, it was about the things of this world passing away. Jesus often told his disciples not to be afraid. In today’s readings he tells them not to be hoarders either. Trust in God and do not be afraid. Instead of storing things up on earth and hoarding for a better day, let God take care of that, and concern yourselves with the future in heaven. If you have to hoard, hoard your good deeds and collect as many of them as you can so that you can use them in the final judgment when we head toward what Paul calls today the “better country… the heavenly one.”
Message of this Sunday’s Readings is to let Jesus takes care of the present first. For the present get rid of your possessions and make gifts to the poor. Let God worry about what will happen tomorrow. Then, look to the future. Act in a way that prepares you for the kingdom. Evaluate what you do by thinking whether or not the Master would like it if he returned and saw you doing it. Just as in the first reading today God has prepared the Hebrews for their future: “the night of the deliverance from Egypt was made known beforehand to our ancestors, so that they might rejoice….” Knowing that God would be true to his word, that he would deliver them, he would lead them to a Promised Land, allowed the Hebrew people to live in joy even when the present was difficult.
Similarly, Jesus promises the kingdom of heaven and wants his followers to be joyful, because he is true to his word and it will happen in the future. And as we know, that final goal is the kingdom of heaven. In Luke’s Gospel this is one of the eschatological sections, this means writing about the end of the world. Early Christians were very concerned about the end times, much more than we seem to be today, though it might be similar to the groups that today are worrying about the impending end of the world that someone predicted for 2012. When Jesus didn’t come right away, and people started to die off, the early Church began to see that it had also to concentrate on what to do while you were waiting for the Second Coming, and so there was more emphasis on behavior and Christ’s message of loving one’s neighbor.
What can all of this mean for us today, this week? Following the Gospel will bring you both freedom and joy. Christ promises us this. But to follow the Good News there is a price. Yes we have to give up those things that pull our hearts and minds away from God. Possessions, the inclination to abuse any power we might have, our reliance on having enough time to turn things around before the end comes. In our world today there is still the inequity between the rich and the poor. Jesus has not yet come again. We still have time to right this in our own world, in our own neighborhood. We need to find ways to be good stewards of the world and the possessions given to us. We still need to create a reflection of the kingdom of heaven on earth. And it starts with each one of us. If Jesus should return tomorrow, will we have done all we could to put into practice his message? Yes, we should be ready to answer “yes, I am here!” for his call and for his return. And this is the challenge of the Good News today.
We are called to do our assigned tasks as best we can, and also continue to be compassionate, becoming a neighbor to anyone in need, especially elderly parents. This is what the gospel servant is doing, all that is expected of him in his particular assigned function. When the Lord returns, he wants to find his servants busy to achieve their assigned duties without grumbling, and without abusing anyone or anything, and having a special care for those in need.
Being watchful for the Master’s return is simply a matter of a loving daily routine. This includes regular daily prayer; growth in knowledge of spiritual and moral truths; a fundamental care for those in need, especially family members; and a hopeful expectation about the Master’s arrival. If we are not watchful, if we are lax in fulfilling our daily tasks and do not take precautions to know what is morally right and live accordingly, then the thief will find an easy entrance into our hearts and not only steal our real treasure, but leave behind a life in shambles. The battle and victory over the evil thief who would try to lead us away from our responsibilities becomes possible only through prayer. The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch, to do what we are called to do with love.
This summer seems to be a bad one for some regions in North America. Some people died because of too much heat. In the city of Calgary in Canada, flood was spread up all over many parts of the city….People complain and complain! For me, I can see it by spiritual insight: God doesn’t hate or punish us as his children, but as parents, God can use different things to educate us. Don’t trust in material things. They come and go one day. God is the only one we should trust. Glory of God is the only one thing we should work for. It lasts forever!
Oremus: O Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us of readiness and be watchful. We might be ready by keeping daily prayer, by attending Sunday Mass, by receiving Communion, confession and by doing charity. Make us to remember these things in our busy life. Amen.
Father Great Rice
Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
Book of Wisdom 18. 6-9; Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews 11.1-2.8-19
and Gospel of St. Luke 12. 32-48
Today we have very much a continuation of the message from last week’s Readings, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time. If you remember, it was about the things of this world passing away. Jesus often told his disciples not to be afraid. In today’s readings he tells them not to be hoarders either. Trust in God and do not be afraid. Instead of storing things up on earth and hoarding for a better day, let God take care of that, and concern yourselves with the future in heaven. If you have to hoard, hoard your good deeds and collect as many of them as you can so that you can use them in the final judgment when we head toward what Paul calls today the “better country… the heavenly one.”
Message of this Sunday’s Readings is to let Jesus takes care of the present first. For the present get rid of your possessions and make gifts to the poor. Let God worry about what will happen tomorrow. Then, look to the future. Act in a way that prepares you for the kingdom. Evaluate what you do by thinking whether or not the Master would like it if he returned and saw you doing it. Just as in the first reading today God has prepared the Hebrews for their future: “the night of the deliverance from Egypt was made known beforehand to our ancestors, so that they might rejoice….” Knowing that God would be true to his word, that he would deliver them, he would lead them to a Promised Land, allowed the Hebrew people to live in joy even when the present was difficult.
Similarly, Jesus promises the kingdom of heaven and wants his followers to be joyful, because he is true to his word and it will happen in the future. And as we know, that final goal is the kingdom of heaven. In Luke’s Gospel this is one of the eschatological sections, this means writing about the end of the world. Early Christians were very concerned about the end times, much more than we seem to be today, though it might be similar to the groups that today are worrying about the impending end of the world that someone predicted for 2012. When Jesus didn’t come right away, and people started to die off, the early Church began to see that it had also to concentrate on what to do while you were waiting for the Second Coming, and so there was more emphasis on behavior and Christ’s message of loving one’s neighbor.
What can all of this mean for us today, this week? Following the Gospel will bring you both freedom and joy. Christ promises us this. But to follow the Good News there is a price. Yes we have to give up those things that pull our hearts and minds away from God. Possessions, the inclination to abuse any power we might have, our reliance on having enough time to turn things around before the end comes. In our world today there is still the inequity between the rich and the poor. Jesus has not yet come again. We still have time to right this in our own world, in our own neighborhood. We need to find ways to be good stewards of the world and the possessions given to us. We still need to create a reflection of the kingdom of heaven on earth. And it starts with each one of us. If Jesus should return tomorrow, will we have done all we could to put into practice his message? Yes, we should be ready to answer “yes, I am here!” for his call and for his return. And this is the challenge of the Good News today.
We are called to do our assigned tasks as best we can, and also continue to be compassionate, becoming a neighbor to anyone in need, especially elderly parents. This is what the gospel servant is doing, all that is expected of him in his particular assigned function. When the Lord returns, he wants to find his servants busy to achieve their assigned duties without grumbling, and without abusing anyone or anything, and having a special care for those in need.
Being watchful for the Master’s return is simply a matter of a loving daily routine. This includes regular daily prayer; growth in knowledge of spiritual and moral truths; a fundamental care for those in need, especially family members; and a hopeful expectation about the Master’s arrival. If we are not watchful, if we are lax in fulfilling our daily tasks and do not take precautions to know what is morally right and live accordingly, then the thief will find an easy entrance into our hearts and not only steal our real treasure, but leave behind a life in shambles. The battle and victory over the evil thief who would try to lead us away from our responsibilities becomes possible only through prayer. The Holy Spirit constantly seeks to awaken us to keep watch, to do what we are called to do with love.
This summer seems to be a bad one for some regions in North America. Some people died because of too much heat. In the city of Calgary in Canada, flood was spread up all over many parts of the city….People complain and complain! For me, I can see it by spiritual insight: God doesn’t hate or punish us as his children, but as parents, God can use different things to educate us. Don’t trust in material things. They come and go one day. God is the only one we should trust. Glory of God is the only one thing we should work for. It lasts forever!
Oremus: O Lord Jesus, thank you for teaching us of readiness and be watchful. We might be ready by keeping daily prayer, by attending Sunday Mass, by receiving Communion, confession and by doing charity. Make us to remember these things in our busy life. Amen.
Father Great Rice