31st Sunday in ordinary Time
01-11-2009
All
Saints Day
[From this Sunday onwards the homily page will not carry
the Sunday Readings – Thanks and God Bless
– Fr. Rudolf Valerian D’Souza]
Long time ago, there was an Emperor who told his
horseman that if he could ride on his
horse and cover as much land area as he likes, then the
Emperor would give him the area of land he has covered.
Sure enough, the horseman quickly jumped onto his horse
and rode as fast as possible to cover as much land area
as he could. He kept on riding and riding, whipping the
horse to go as fast as possible. When he was hungry or
tired, he did not stop because he wanted to cover as
much area as possible.
Came to a point when he had covered a substantial area
and he was exhausted and was dying. Then he asked
himself, “Why did I push myself so hard to cover so much
land area? Now I am dying and I only need a very small
area to bury myself.”
The above story is similar with the journey of our Life.
We push very hard everyday to make more money, to gain
power and recognition. We neglect our health, time with
our family and to appreciate the surrounding beauty and
the hobbies we love.
One day when we look back, we will realize that we don’t
really need that much, but then we cannot turn back time
for what we have missed.
Life is not about making money, acquiring power or
recognition. Life is definitely not about work! Work is
only necessary to keep us living so as to enjoy the
beauty and pleasures of life. Life is a balance of Work
and Play, Family and Personal time. You have to decide
how you want to balance your Life. Define your
priorities, realize what you are able to compromise but
always let some of your decisions be based on your
instincts. Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of
Life, the whole aim of human existence.
So, take it easy, do what you want to do and appreciate
nature. Life is fragile, Life is short. Do not take Life
for granted. Live a balanced lifestyle and enjoy Life!
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character .
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny I hope
that you enjoy the above story and moral.
“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and
unexpected encouragement if he makes up his mind to do
his level best each day.”
Not so long ago, a new pastor was assigned to a parish
that was quite divided over the issue of what it means
to be a good Christian. One faction was very upset with
the previous pastor who did not, in their opinion, give
enough vocal support to every pronouncement that came
from Rome and who spent way too much time encouraging
parishioners to consider issues of social justice. In
addition this group wanted at least one Mass a Sunday in
Latin and wanted the pastor to preach about the evils of
birth control and divorce, forbidding the sacraments,
including Christian burial, to those known to be sinning
in those matters. The other faction was also upset with
the previous pastor because they thought he didn’t go
far enough on issues of social justice and spent far too
much time encouraging people to pray and meditate and to
follow the example of Mary. Representatives of both
factions were constantly coming to the rectory to
register their complaints. After one knock down drag out
session with representatives of both factions, the new
pastor wearily wandered into the reception area of the
rectory. The teenage girl who answered the phone looked
at him sympathetically (because, of course, she had
heard much of the shouting match he had just endured)
and said, "You know Father, my grandpa always said,
"Love God and love your neighbor. That’s what it’s all
about." The pastor smiled, thinking wouldn’t it be great
to have her give the homily one Sunday?
WE ARE
APPROACHING THE END of the LITURGICAL year. And, in the
gospels of these Sundays, we are looking at the final
phase of Jesus’ life before his suffering, death and
resurrection. He predicts certain things that announce
the end of times.
Last
week we saw Jesus leaving Jericho on the last stage of
his journey to Jerusalem. He healed the blind beggar,
Bartimaeus, who, once he regained his sight, saw that
the only thing he could do was to go with Jesus on that
final journey. Today’s story takes place in Jerusalem
itself. The context of the story is important.
"Sacrifice" is mentioned in both the Second Reading and
the Gospel. There are clear links with the Temple, the
Old Testament and Jewish Law. A Scribe approaches Jesus.
He is an expert in interpreting the Law. There were more
than 600 laws, too many for an ordinary person to grasp.
He asks a question which was much-debated among scholars
of the day: Of all these many laws which was the most
central, the most basic, the one that summed up all the
others?
Unlike
other occasions, there seems to be no sense of hostility
or of a trap being set here. The man just wants to know
Jesus’ opinion as a rabbi and teacher.
Positive response
Note
how Jesus receives the man. Usually Scribes and
Pharisees are presented as hostile to Jesus. It would be
natural for Jesus to be on the defensive, to react
negatively. But Jesus always takes the person as he or
she is. He does not indulge in stereotyping about
"typical Scribes and Pharisees" and tarring all with the
same brush. We do this so easily with classes, races,
age groups (teenagers, older people). We use so many
labels. We even stereotype individuals we know before
they have opened their mouths, based on our previous
experience with them. Jesus accepts and responds to this
person here and now as he is. An example which we can
all follow and which would save a lot of wear and tear
in our relations with people, if we did so.
A new development
To
answer the man’s question Jesus quotes from the Jewish
scripture, the Old Testament. In answering the question,
Jesus begins from where the man is, in an area which
will be both familiar and acceptable to him. But he
takes two distinct texts and puts them together as one.
This is a significant development and one that is
absolutely central to the Christian vision. In today’s
First Reading from Deuteronomy, one of the books of the
Jewish law, one can see that one is urged to love God
with all one’s energy and to "keep all his laws and
commandments". There is no mention here of the "neighbour".
That appears in a separate text in a different book of
the law (Leviticus 19:18).
The Scribe is obviously pleased with the answer. And he
further adds that these two commands are far more
important than any holocaust or sacrifice.
And it is this dual approach which makes Jesus the
perfect priest mentioned in the Second Reading. The
priests of the Law were men subject to weakness. "Death
put an end to each one of them." While Christ, "because
he remains for ever, can never lose his priesthood".
Jesus is the "perfect" Priest and now the only Priest,
because absolutely perfect in his love for the Father
and in his love for us.
Like
Jesus, we cannot separate our love of God from loving
ALL those around us. Sometimes we see our sins just as
offences against God, even when action is directed
against another person. We may go to "confession", get
forgiveness and feel the matter is finished. We go to
God for forgiveness, when what is also needed is
forgiveness from and reconciliation with the person we
have hurt. If we cannot love the neighbour we can see,
how can we love the God we cannot see? (cf. 1 John 4:20)
And who is my neighbour? For the people in Jesus’ time,
it was a fellow-Jew. Others, even though physically
near, were not. Following the teaching of Jesus,
however, it is anyone who needs our love, our concern,
or who shows love and concern for us, transcending all
barriers and independent of like or dislike, approval or
disapproval. But some of us can sympathise with the
complaint of comic strip character, Charlie Brown: "I
love humanity; it’s people I can’t stand!"
Loving others, loving ourselves
We are
to love our neighbour as we love ourselves. That sounds
very demanding. Actually it is often part of the
problem. Many, if not most of us, do not love ourselves
very much. Many, most would not like others to know us
as we feel we really are. Our feelings are echoed in the
title of two books by Jesuit John Powell:
Why Am I
Afraid to Tell You Who I Am? and Will the Real Me Stand
Up?
We go
to great lengths to hide our inadequacies, our
weaknesses. We spend a lot of money on houses, cars,
clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, dining out… Image is all.
We need status symbols to prove we are "someone".
Teenagers looking and sounding very "with-it" but
actually hiding behind currently fashionable
clothes-styles, hairstyles, language, being "cool" and
"hip". Very few people are really themselves in front of
others. In computer jargon we say, "What
you
see
is
what
you
get
[WYSWYG]".
In other words, what appears on the screen will also
appear on a print-out. For people it should be, "What
you see is what there is." This requires total
self-acceptance (not the same as self-approval) and
integrity, wholeness. Self-acceptance means that I fully
acknowledge both my strengths and weaknesses and I am
not ashamed of them and I don’t mind if other people
know them. Because such a person knows that the key to
being loved is to have one’s real self accessible to
others.
God and our Neighbour:
Conventionally we say we should first love God. Then,
for his sake, we love others. Lastly, self should be
denied, sacrifices should be made. We should not be
selfish, self-centred. Actually it may surprise us to be
told that we cannot not be self-centred. Everything we
do is self-centred. We need to go the other way: learn
to love and accept self fully. Then, and only then, are
we free to look out and reach out to others in love non
self-consciously. When I have nothing to hide, it is
easy to be myself. And, if others do not like what they
see, that is their problem, not mine. And we will then
discover that, when we have learnt to love genuinely and
unconditionally, we will be loved in return – though not
by all. We cannot be loved by
all because there are many people out there who are not
able to love; it is not because there is anything wrong
with me. To want
to be loved by everyone is simply unattainable.
And when we know what really loving and being loved is
(by direct experience), then (and only then?) can we
talk about really loving God. All this, says today’s
Gospel, is more important than any ritual or sacrifice.
It is no good being in church every hour of every day if
I am not a loving person.
Discipleship
Jesus
said the Scribe was "close to the Kingdom" because he
had touched on the essence of living: loving God and
loving others as a single but distinct reality. But he
is not quite part of it yet. He was not and apparently
did not become a full disciple of Jesus. And what makes
such a disciple? By this will all know that you are my
disciples – that you love God? That you never miss Mass?
That you have special devotion to Our Lady? No, none of
these by itself. What is essential and sufficient is to
love God in loving others and to love others in loving
God.
Late Pope John Paul’s daily slogan “do not be afraid”
helped him to combat his way towards great heights in
sanctity and heightened successful performance during
his 26 years of papacy. His humble beginnings as Pope
and his rising popularity and a rare combination of his
humour, smiling face and attractive personality won him
great appreciation and acceptance across the globe. The
worldwide media branded him as a ‘hard working and
courageous Pope’. I had the most rare opportunity to
assist him during the last three days of his agonizing
hours of life. He struggled till the end to keep himself
serene and lucid and the media people were wondering at
how he could resist and be so strong till his last
breath and were able to say boldly “amen” to the Lord.
In the early nineteenth century, a young man in London
aspired to be a writer. But everything seemed to be
against him. He had never been able to attend school
more than four years. His father had been thrown in jail
because he couldn’t pay his debts, and this young man
often knew the pangs of hunger. Finally he got a job
pasting labels on bottles in a rat-infested warehouse,
and he slept at night in a dismal attic room with two
other boys from the slums of London. He had so little
confidence in his ability to write that he sneaked out
and mailed his first manuscript in the dead of the night
so nobody would laugh at him. Story after story was
refused. Finally the great day came when one was
accepted. True, he wasn’t paid for it, but one editor
had praised him. One editor had given him recognition.
He was so thrilled that he wandered aimlessly around the
streets of London with tears rolling down his cheeks.
The praise, the recognition that he received through
getting one story in print changed his whole life. If it
hadn’t been for that encouragement, he would have spent
his entire life working in rat-infested factories. You
may have heard of that boy. His name is Charles Dickens
In Florida, an atheist became incensed over the
preparation of Easter and Passover holidays.. He decided
to contact his lawyer about the discrimination inflicted
on atheists by the constant celebrations afforded to
Christians and Jews with all their holidays while
atheists had no holiday to celebrate.
The case was brought before a judge. After listening to
the long passionate presentation by the lawyer, the
Judge banged his gavel and declared, ‘Case dismissed!’
The lawyer immediately stood and objected to the ruling
and said, ‘Your honor, how can you possibly dismiss this
case? The Christians have Christmas, Easter and many
other observances. Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and
Hanukkah...yet my client and all other atheists have no
such holiday!’
The judge leaned forward in his chair and simply said,
‘Obviously your client is too confused to even know
about, much less celebrate his own atheists’ holiday!’
The lawyer pompously said, ‘Your Honor, we are unaware
of any such holiday for atheists just when that holiday
might be, your Honor?’
The judge said, ‘Well it comes every year on exactly the
same date - April 1st! Since our calendar sets April 1st
as ‘April Fools Day,’ consider that Psalm 14:1 states,
‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’ Thus, in
my opinion, if your client says there is no God, then by
scripture, he is a fool, and April 1st is his holiday!
Now have a good day and get out of my courtroom!!
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