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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.

Just looking at…

The bright side of LIFE:

The elderly priest, speaking to the younger priest, said, ”You had a good idea to replace the first four pews with plush bucket theatre seats. It worked like a charm. The front of the church always fills first now.” The young priest nodded, and the old priest continued, ”And you told me adding a little more beat to the music would bring young people back to church, so I supported you when you brought in that rock ‘n roll gospel choir. Now our services are consistently packed to the balcony.”

”Thank you, Father,” answered the young priest. ”I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth.”

”All of these ideas have been well and good,” said the elderly priest, ”But I’m afraid you’ve gone too far with the drive-thru confessional.”

”But, Father,” protested the young priest, ”my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!”

”Yes,” replied the elderly priest, ”and I appreciate that. But the flashing neon sign, ‘Toot ‘n Tell or Go to Hell’ cannot stay on the church roof!”

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Homily for 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I have to confess that since yesterday I have been wrestling with the thought of not giving a homily today since our Gospel today is already a homily in itself. Here, we heard Jesus using 3 different parables or stories, yet conveying one and the same theme or meaning- i.e. the Kingdom of God. And more, he also gave a comment or an explanation of his parable.

But as I reflect on the gospel, the image of a small mustard seed remains in my mind, and I just wanted to say something about it. The gospel tells us that it is the smallest of all seeds, but when planted, it grows and becomes a big tree with branches for the birds to nest or to perch upon.

Honestly, I am not familiar with this image. I haven’t seen a mustard tree. So allow me to use a familiar image of a watermelon, just to drive out the point here. I am just amazed with the watermelon fruit. I just couldn’t imagine how can that very small seed grow and bear a fruit which maybe a hundred thousand times its size. It also makes me wonder the fact that it grows on the ground, but it has acquired a unique colour and a beautiful taste. It’s really wonderful.

However, my point here is not to wonder about watermelon but to wonder about how little things can grow into big things. This is the point in our Gospel today: that out of little things we can do big things, that out of our littleness, we can contribute towards the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God here and now. Sometimes in our life, we feel so little, so small, that we thought we couldn’t accomplish anything. Sometimes, we thought we are nothing, we are nobody, and that we can’t do anything on our own. But today Jesus tells us…our littleness can actually do great things for the kingdom. And here’s the good news, God has given each one of us ‘seed’ if not ‘seeds’ of the kingdom. He wants that we would plant it, nurture it, make it grow and bear fruit in us, for us and for others, and ultimately for God.

In 1998, a first-grader boy learned from his teacher, that people were dying because they didn’t have clean water to drink. That moved him to raise money to help those who are deprived of this basic necessity. For four months he did extra house chores just to earn his first $70- the amount his teacher told him the project would cost- to make a well in Africa. This humble initiative of a very young boy was made known to some people, and instantly became viral. People were moved and thus, they offered help to raise money for the well. So in 1999, Ryan Hreljac has opened his first well called Ryan’s Well in Uganda and from then on, it serves thousands of people. Ryan’s Well foundation is still continuing to operate up to now helping those people who are in great need, all because of the humble yet genuine initiative of a very young boy. All because he planted the seed of the kingdom in him, nurtured it and make it grow to bear fruit for the benefits of many. And like the mustard seed, no matter how small we are, we can do great things, we can bear good fruits, and we can serve many people.

As we continue our celebration today, let’s stop lamenting our littleness. Let us however examine ourselves and see what is/are the seed[s] of the Kingdom of God within us. Have we planted it yet? Have we nurtured it to bear fruit not only for ourselves but also for the benefits of all?

But let’s not forget, all this is not our doing, it’s God’s. We are only cooperating with him. Let us therefore allow him to be our friend and guide, our owner who would care for us even if ‘bad’ elements [weeds] are also growing alongside with us, one who knows our weakness yet continues to work with us, in us and through us. By doing this, we are contributing to the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God. Let this be our prayer.

Reflection on the Gospel for 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

16th Sunday of the year (A)

A saintly old lady was out for a short stroll one night, before going to bed. It was a beautiful night, clear sky, bright stars, full moon. The old woman was deeply touched as she looked up at the sky. With a deep sense of reverence at the awesomeness of God, and his creation, and her own limited humanity, she fell on her knees, and cried out, ‘Oh God of infinite goodness and beauty, please don’t ever let me offend you in the slightest, tiniest way again.’ Then she heard a voice saying, ‘My child, if I granted that request to everyone, how could I ever show my infinite mercy and forgiveness, which is one of the clearest ways I have to let people know and experience my love.’

Sometimes in life, we really wish everything would be alright, that every mess would be sorted out, that every problem would be solved, that like our little old lady, we would never sin again, that we would get out of our bad habits and bad lifestyles, that all bad people would be taken out of this world and so on. And so at times, we would wish together with St Julian of Norwich, that ‘all will be well.’

Friends, one of the many things that our gospel is telling us today is really this. In the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the servants who saw the ‘darnel’ (weeds planted by the devil) growing alongside the wheat, they asked the owner, if they can uproot them. But like the voice that the lady heard in the story, the owner said ‘No, because when you weed out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it…Let’s just let them grow until harvest time and then we’ll gather the wheat into my barn and burn the weeds.’

I read somewhere a caption that says, ‘If your Church claims to be the Church of the Saints, stop going to that Church.’ If this church only opens its doors for the ‘good’ people, then this would not make any sense at all. It’s just like a hospital that admits only ‘healthy people.’ Friends, though we are not for this world, but we are still in this world. And everyday we are confronted with all sort of things, confusion, chaos, violence, injustice, and the list can go on and on. To be able to uproot all these weeds in our society today is delusional. This is so because some of us might think that all these ‘bad’ things are only done by ‘bad’ people. Some of us just pass the buck to someone else. But we have to know, that one of the very bad things in our times, is for the ‘good’ people to do nothing. And our idle mind, mind you, is the favourite workshop of the devil. We know this in our gospel today, the evil one went to the farm at night, when no one was there, and sowed the bad seed.

The other day, a friend told me that even though he’s doing the best he can, there are still people who are turning against him. This upset him and he wanted to express his anger to them. I calmed him down, telling him that ‘a fire can only be extinguished with water, not by another fire.

Yes, we may at times feel we’ve sown a good seed, but one day, we just wake up finding weeds in our precious field- a friend on whom we were relying lets us down, a kid for whom we had high hopes and done so much goes wrong, our relationship with each other goes sour and even leads to break-up.

What can we do then? First, let’s allow the weeds to grow, learn from these ‘weeds’ in life, but we should not imitate or allow these weeds to outgrow us. Second, let’s reflect and make this our prayer, our first reading today from the Book of Wisdom. This tells us of our God who cares for everything, who only has to will, and has power over everything. Third, turn to God in prayer, as St Paul urges in our Second Reading today. He knows our weakness. He knows everything in our hearts. We just have to allow his Holy Spirit to dwell and work in and through us, for it is this same Spirit who would strengthen and sustain as we continue to grow as ‘the wheat’ of God even though we are surrounded as well by the ‘weeds’ of this world.

Let this be our prayer then…That we would stop categorising people as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but rather we would help each other to grow in love and holiness as we go on with our pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise we would leave nothing for God to do. Amen.

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?

The bright side of LIFE:

”Thank you, Father,” answered the young priest. ”I am pleased that you are open to the new ideas of youth.”

”All of these ideas have been well and good,” said the elderly priest, ”But I’m afraid you’ve gone too far with the drive-thru confessional.”

”But, Father,” protested the young priest, ”my confessions and the donations have nearly doubled since I began that!”

”Yes,” replied the elderly priest, ”and I appreciate that. But the flashing neon sign, ‘Toot ‘n Tell or Go to Hell’ cannot stay on the church roof!”

But as I reflect on the gospel, the image of a small mustard seed remains in my mind, and I just wanted to say something about it. The gospel tells us that it is the smallest of all seeds, but when planted, it grows and becomes a big tree with branches for the birds to nest or to perch upon.

As we continue our celebration today, let’s stop lamenting our littleness. Let us however examine ourselves and see what is/are the seed[s] of the Kingdom of God within us. Have we planted it yet? Have we nurtured it to bear fruit not only for ourselves but also for the benefits of all?

The other day, a friend told me that even though he’s doing the best he can, there are still people who are turning against him. This upset him and he wanted to express his anger to them. I calmed him down, telling him that ‘a fire can only be extinguished with water, not by another fire.

Yes, we may at times feel we’ve sown a good seed, but one day, we just wake up finding weeds in our precious field- a friend on whom we were relying lets us down, a kid for whom we had high hopes and done so much goes wrong, our relationship with each other goes sour and even leads to break-up.

Let this be our prayer then…That we would stop categorising people as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, but rather we would help each other to grow in love and holiness as we go on with our pilgrimage towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise we would leave nothing for God to do. Amen.

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