First Reading – Wisdom 18:6-9 ©
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm
32(33):1,12,18-20,22 ©
Second Reading – Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19
©
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:25
Alternative Acclamation – Matthew
24:42 44
The Gospel According to Luke 12:32 -
48 ©
(NJB)
Listen!
There is no place for jingoism for those who follow the way; remember what Jesus said, “take no oaths for me or against me” and apply these to the teaching of the prophet.
God loves all people and desires their deliverance, God has a plan and works for the salvation of everyone, bearing no enmity to anyone.
Be mindful
Our adversaries, if we have them, are also God’s children, and there is no one alive who may boast of piety; all our pretensions to it are merely charades, just as the sacrifices we make are rendered meaningless in the absence of love and mercy…reject the false wisdom that suggests there is any other way.
Consider the wisdom of the psalmist who says that it is fitting to praise God, to praise the creator of the universe every day, and give thanks to the creator for the life you have in it, as burdensome as it may be, do your part to make it a better place.
It is wise to trust in the counsel of God and to have faith in God’s mercy; and though this is wise, do not expect God to rescue you from danger, or believe that God’s loves any one of God’s children more than any other, or that you are loved by God in a unique and special way.
God knows all things and God understands all things, you have heard this said:
God’s knowledge is not an abstract knowledge of the particulars details of individual events, God understands our person, our choices, our lives and experience; even as we understand them ourselves; God understands with a clarity we do not possess.
Trust in God’s plan for you, and God’s plan for creation…trust is the essence of faith.
Do not wait for salvation, there is nothing you can do to effect it, you cannot purchase it with good deeds, or trade for it on faith. Salvation is already yours, go out and share the good news, salvation is the inheritance of everyone.
Now reflect for a moment on the meaning of faith and the teaching of the apostle, who is mistaken.
Faith is not a thing, like a key, such that when it comes into your possession you are able to do miraculous things. Faith is not a substance, faith is not quantifiable.
The simple meaning of faith is this: to trust, it guarantees nothing…it proves nothing.
Placing your trust in the way is its own reward. Faith in the heavenly will brings peace of mind, faith frees us from fear and anxiety, faith facilitates love and promotes caring, it leads us into the way of justice and mercy.
Abraham may have obeyed his calling out of faith, his faith may have endured undiminished when he arrived at his journey’s end, a stranger in a strange land. He may have instructed his heirs to trust in God in the same way that he and his wife Sara did, all of them may have trusted the vision that they shared, but it was not because of their faith that they thrived on land, and it was not because of her faith that Sara conceived a child after a lifetime of barreness.
Be mindful.
Faith is not a coin that we exchange for the blessings of God, and make no mistake, God does not interfere in our affairs; faith will not engender that.
The teachings of Jesus cannot be treated like a shell game, though they often are, and often have been since the beginning of the church, as Matthew’s Gospel illustrates.
The way of Jesus is not a long con, it is not a bait and switch, it is a simple and cannot be controlled or owned by any one group of people.
God has hidden nothing. The truth is in the open for anyone to see.
The wise and the powerful, the learned and the clever, the weak and the meek, everyone has access to the same truth, to the knowledge of God and the way of justice, of hope and love.
Know this!
The future history of the world has not been written.
Any supposition we might make about our future on earth is merely guesswork. Some guesses are more informed than others, we can speak about the future in terms of possibility and probability, but we cannot know anything about the days and nights to come.
There are thousands of ways in which the plans we have laid or the hopes which we cherish can come undone; lightening will strike, a tornado will blow, a meteor will fall, a volcano explode. A person in the fullness of their life may trip and fall and hit their head and die, leaving everything they have accomplished behind them.
The promises we have received from God regarding our salvation, those promises are not of this world. God has promised to bring an end to suffering, injustice, hunger, illness; believe that these will come to pass…in a world in which we are not subject to the vicissitudes of the material condition.
I cannot speak of that world. I have never seen it…no one living has.
Our belief in a loving God, our hope in the testimony of the prophets, our trust in the Gospel, these are what allow us to believe that God’s promises are true. Through faith we can live our present lives as if the reality of these promises were true, this is how we realize the promise and make it present among us…this is the secret of the way which Jesus taught.
If we are just and loving, if we care for one another, we do not have to wait for salvation, we are already well.
Know this!
Because the Gospels were written by human beings (mostly men), written by communities of people long after Jesus’ death, we are often confronted with passages that appear to vacillate between hope, joy and optimism for the way, and the demands of those who were seeking to enshrine his teachings in institutions like the burgeoning Church.
The Gospel must be read carefully, from time to time we have to peel away those segments that speak to us from a place of fear and the doubt, to place in their proper context the conservativism and protectionist teachings of those who came after Jesus, as they wrote about the challenge of their own experience in the second and third generations after his passing.
The opening of the gospel for today represents the heart of Jesus’ teaching: there is no need to be afraid, Jesus says. There is no need to fear.
The parable that follows must be read in the context of these hopeful words. The parable speaks to the roles of a householder and his servants, it does not address whether the servants were members of his family, hired hands or slaves, it does not need to, because for the purpose of the reading those distinctions are immaterial.
The parable is concerned with preparedness, the fulfillment of the obligations assigned to the role a person occupies, and the vital necessity of cooperation. The setting is the walled house of the householder, this is a metaphor for the believing community, and we are told that the householder represents, Jesus the founder of the Church (and in popular mythology the Son of Man who has promised to return), the householder also represents the head of the believing community, in its contemporary time and place. The servants of the house represent the community of believers.
Be mindful.
In the Christian tradition, as it is properly constructed, the householder represents head of the believing community, it is to be understood as the chief among servants. The parable calls us to be happy in our work, to go to it joyfully, to faithfully execute the responsibilities we are given (the responsibilities we have sought), to anticipate the needs of those in our care and fulfill them.
Preparedness
is about expectation, expectation is about hope, and hope is the core of the
Gospel.
Note well: the narrative changes in response to Peter’s questioning, and this change marks a deviation from the way. It is a reflection of the teachings of the church in the generations following Jesus and the and the message has become harsh; the merciful heart of Jesus are absent, in its place are judgements, beatings, lashings and the alienation of others.
Remember.
Jesus taught us to come together, to be as one. He taught in the spirit of compassion, he forgave those who persecuted him, as well as the disciples who sold him out and abandoned him at his darkest hour…Jesus had taken their measure and knew that they would…he loved them anyway.
First Reading – Wisdom 18:6-9 ©
You Made Us Glorious by Calling Us to
You
That
night had been foretold to our ancestors, so that, once they saw what kind of
oaths they had put their trust in, they would joyfully take courage.
This
was the expectation of your people, the saving of the virtuous and the ruin of
their enemies;
for
by the same act with which you took vengeance on our foes you made us glorious
by calling us to you.
The
devout children of worthy men offered sacrifice in secret and this divine pact
they struck with one accord: that the saints would share the same blessings and
dangers alike; and forthwith they had begun to chant the hymns of the fathers.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 32(33):1,12,18-20,22
©
Happy are the people the Lord has
chosen as his own.
Ring
out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
They
are happy, whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own.
Happy are the people the Lord has
chosen as his own.
The
Lord looks on those who revere him,
on those who hope in his love,
to
rescue their souls from death,
to keep them alive in famine.
Happy are the people the Lord has
chosen as his own.
Our
soul is waiting for the Lord.
The Lord is our help and our shield.
May
your love be upon us, O Lord,
as we place all our hope in you.
Happy are the people the Lord has
chosen as his own.
Second Reading – Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19
©
Abraham Looked Forward to a City Founded,
Designed and Built by God
Only
faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of
the realities that at present remain unseen. It was for faith that our
ancestors were commended.
It
was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the
inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without
knowing where he was going. By faith he arrived, as a foreigner, in the
Promised Land, and lived there as if in a strange country, with Isaac and
Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. They lived there in tents
while he looked forward to a city founded, designed and built by God.
It
was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able
to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise would be
faithful to it. Because of this, there came from one man, and one who was
already as good as dead himself, more descendants than could be counted, as
many as the stars of heaven or the grains of sand on the seashore.
All
these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised,
but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they
were only strangers and nomads on earth. People who use such terms about
themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of their real homeland.
They can hardly have meant the country they came from, since they had the
opportunity to go back to it; but in fact they were longing for a better
homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called
their God, since he has founded the city for them.
It
was by faith that Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He offered
to sacrifice his only son even though the promises had been made to him and he
had been told: It is through Isaac that your name will be carried on. He was
confident that God had the power even to raise the dead; and so, figuratively
speaking, he was given back Isaac from the dead.
Gospel Acclamation – Matthew 11:25
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed
are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the
kingdom
to
mere children.
Alleluia!
Alternative Acclamation – Matthew 24:42
44
Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay
awake and stand ready, because you do not know the hour when the Son of Man is
coming.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Luke 12:32-48
©
You too Must Stand Ready
Jesus
said to his disciples:
‘There
is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give
you the kingdom.
‘Sell
your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out,
treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no
moth destroy it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
‘See
that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting
for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as
soon as he comes and knocks. Happy those servants whom the master finds awake
when he comes. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at
table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the
third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready. You may be quite sure
of this, that if the householder had known at what hour the burglar would come,
he would not have let anyone break through the wall of his house. You too must
stand ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’
Peter
said, ‘Lord, do you mean this parable for us, or for everyone?’ The Lord
replied, ‘What sort of steward, then, is faithful and wise enough for the
master to place him over his household to give them their allowance of food at
the proper time? Happy that servant if his master’s arrival finds him at this
employment. I tell you truly, he will place him over everything he owns. But as
for the servant who says to himself, “My master is taking his time coming,” and
sets about beating the menservants and the maids, and eating and drinking and
getting drunk, his master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour
he does not know. The master will cut him off and send him to the same fate as
the unfaithful.
The
servant who knows what his master wants, but has not even started to carry out
those wishes, will receive very many strokes of the lash. The one who did not
know, but deserves to be beaten for what he has done, will receive fewer
strokes. When a man has had a great deal given him, a great deal will be
demanded of him; when a man has had a great deal given him on trust, even more
will be expected of him.’
A Homily – The Nineteenth Sunday in
Ordinary Time (Year C)
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