Tag Archives: Kingdom of God

Jul 23 2011

Homily for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

17th Sunday Homily (Year A)

A few months ago,  I read a news of a 13-year-old boy in Cebu Philippines who committed suicide for the reason that his mother did not buy him a laptop computer. Reading that  I felt so sad and upset. I didn’t blame anyone though, because I realized that it was not anyone’s fault. It’s a symptom however of our materialistic society. Many people think that material thing is all that is. Many believe that material things can really make us happy and contented. Not a few people think that money is all that we need because through it, we can get everything that we need or want.

But we know, we who are here today don’t really believe that material things are all that we need, do we? If we do, we would not have been here. We are here because we believe as our faith- experience tells us that there is more to our life than material things. We are here, I hope and pray, because we are looking for that treasure of the kingdom that would really guarantee us of eternal happiness, real contentment and complete satisfaction.

In our Gospel today Jesus tells us another set of parables about the kingdom of God-a priceless treasure, that once it is found, we would consider all other things as mere shadows. But what is this treasure? What is this kingdom of God?

It is the kingdom of love, of peace, of justice, of solidarity, of sharing, of making God as the centre of our life…The point in our gospel today, is for us to seek for this kingdom.  But where? Jesus said, the kingdom of God is among us now, is within us. So let’s look at our heart. What are our priorities? If we feel sad hearing the news of  starvation in Somalia, it’s the sign of the Kingdom of solidarity and of justice. If we feel sorry for that boy who took his own life because he couldn’t get a laptop, it’s a sign of the Kingdom that we want God to be focus of our life rather than things. And as we read the papers everyday, we are in some ways moved to reflect on  some of the events happening around us. But  reading or reflecting on these things are not enough. We have to do something. As I mentioned last week, each one of us is given a ‘seed’ of the kingdom. Let’s work from there. Let’s develop it, share it, make it bear fruit.

But to do it in our time, is quite a challenge. Because there is another kingdom that is in opposition to the Kingdom of God-the kingdom of Satan. Satan is real and he is working now, more than ever. He even seems to have succeeded in some ways. Sin becomes so rampant now, that as John Paul II observes, leading us to believe that doing ‘it’ is just normal and part of our ordinary human life. The late Pope said, because of this reality of sin pervading in the individuals and in the structures, we lose the sense the sin. We are experiencing the eclipse of sin.

But seeing us here today in this Eucharistic celebration is a sign of hope that still we seek for the Kingdom of God, that we want to promote the kingdom of God, that we want to defeat the forces of evil around us.

But what can we do? What do we do then?

Three things: First, more than ever, we need the wisdom of Solomon to help us discern the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of satan; to discern between good and evil;  between right and wrong; between truth and lie; between life and death. Let’s pray that God would grant us this same wisdom.

We need Jesus in defeating the evil forces us. He stood for the truth, no matter what happens, even if he was standing alone, even if it led him to his death. Let’s keep close to his side.

And finally we need to do something to help those people who are really in need, not only of our prayers which is the first thing, but also because we have the means and the ways to do this. We have Caritas, Red Cross, St Vinnies, Catholic Mission, etc. God gives us these ways and these means NOT to put burden on us, but to enable us to share in promoting the kingdom of God here on earth. Let’s seek first the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be provided.  Amen.

Jul 23 2011

Reflection for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

17th Sunday of the Year (A)

A  young man in his mid-twenties, from a well-to-do family, was strolling one day when he met a deformed leper. At first he would have felt an unholy revulsion towards the leper but something in him insisted that he would not only give alms to the leper but also to touch him. This he did, and he did even more, he kissed the leper. That experience changed his life radically. He started to help the poor and the sick from the money of the family of course, which angered his father so much that he was unmercifully beaten, locked up, and even stripped off of his inheritance. His father also demanded that he would pay back the money he spent in buying the goods to help the poor and  the sick. But  this experience of being disowned by his own father did not change his mind, in fact, it strengthened it all the more. He even stripped off the clothes that he was wearing and gave them back to his father saying, “The clothes I wear are also his. I’ll give them back. From now on, I no longer have father on earth. I only have my Father in heaven.”

This man is no other than St Francis of Assisi. He found the real treasure that no amount of wealth in this world can give him. He found God in  two  things that characterize his Order henceforth: poverty and humility. He found the treasure of the Kingdom that he went out and gave up everything he had just to purchase and to acquire that heavenly treasure.

Friends, in our Gospel today Jesus again speaks in parables, and again about the Kingdom of God. Here he speaks of three things. First is that the Kingdom of God has a priceless value that no amount of earthly wealth, treasure, possessions can buy. Second is that we are to seek for this Kingdom with willingness and openness of heart. And third is that the Kingdom of God is already here and now, in us, among us… And we can have a glimpse of this kingdom of God in the Church which is the icon, the sacrament of the Kingdom.

Yes, we may find it distressing or distasteful at times that the Church does not only welcome the saints, but also the sinners. If there is a church that welcomes only ‘the saints’ we have to think twice about going there, since Jesus did not establish the Church only for the saints, but for the sinners who are journeying to become saints.

I’ve spoken last week in my homily, that each one of us is given a ‘seed’ of the kingdom. Today, have we looked at this seed? Have we found this seed? If we do, then are we willing to give up everything, just to make this kingdom alive and real in us?

But how can we seek the Kingdom of God in our world today, when at a touch of a button we can get most of the things if not all that we imagine we need or want? How can we see the kingdom of God as the realization of all our ideals and aspirations,  when we feel we already that on our own, we can  reach our ideals and aspirations?

Friends, like St Francis, we have to realise that the characteristic of the kingdom of God is not ‘hoarding’ or ‘possessing’ the things that we think we need, or realising our dreams and ambitions. NO. Our first Reading today reminds us this. As Christians we  believe that God invites us all to his Kingdom. He has the masterplan, the blueprint of the Kingdom. So what we can do is to be at the same mind with God. To be at the same mind with God means that we would ask him to give us the ‘wisdom’ to see what is true, proper and right. It means that we have to ask God to give us wisdom to understand how to discern between good and evil, between right and wrong, between truth and lie, between life and death. In doing these we are cooperating in God’s work of establishing his kingdom and making us ‘images’ of his Son as St Paul tells us today in the Second Reading.  

So as we continue our reflection today, like Solomon let’s pray that God would give us wisdom to enable us to seek the Kingdom of God in  the world today, to discern between the things in the world that are beneficial from those that are destructive to the Kingdom of God. And like St Francis, let’s be humble and be poor in Spirit, in such a way we can be assured that we can find the Kingdom of God and that everything else [we aspire] will be added unto us.