Sunday, August 31, 2008: Jeremiah 20:7-9; Romans 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

A few weeks ago, I met a successful business man in Ohio who had decided to sell his business and devote his life fully to doing God’s work. He felt God calling him to ministry. His family could not make any sense of this. They thought he was crazy. As I listened to his story, I remembered my own experience when I was discerning my vocation to the priesthood. Some of my family members who today are very supportive of my vocation tried to convince me not to follow this path. They reminded me of my dream of being a medical doctor. They also told me how I could save many human lives as a doctor. At the time, they could not understand why I will chose to become a priest rather than a medical doctor. They thought they were doing me a favor by offering their strong advices against my decision. They were doing what they did because they loved me and they wanted to protect me from any future frustrations choosing a very difficult and less “rewarding” vocation.


St. Paul in today’s second reading warns us not to conform ourselves to this age but to discern the will of God in our lives. The will of God for our lives is not always rosy and so when we compare it to the wisdom of this age, we will think it is foolish. Neither the family of the Ohio business man nor some members of my own family understood what the will of God was for me. Their discernment was the wisdom of this age and not the wisdom of God. St. Peter in today’s gospel fell into the same trap. In the gospel last week, he professed Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. Jesus told him that it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to him but the Father in heaven. It is obvious that this profession was not the wisdom of Peter; it was the revelation of God. This is clear in today’s gospel. He doesn’t understand the true kingship or the Messianic role of Jesus. His understanding of it is solely in human thinking. He calls Jesus Christ aside and tries to advice him against the way of the Cross. At this point, Peter takes on the role of the tempter, offering Jesus Christ a different path. Peter is persuading him not to follow the true path, which is the way of the Cross. He is offering him an easy way. He does this because he loves Jesus and wants to protect him. There is a strong message here for every one of us. Your tempter might be the person who loves you the most. Satan will use your closest friends and the people you love to tempt you. In this case, it was Peter. In your case, it might be your spouse, your child, and your boss at work or a close co-worker. Always keep your eyes open when you are called to a different path apart from the one you think God has called you to. Do not assume that because this is from someone I love, it must be the right path. Also, we need to careful how we offer people different paths. While we have a responsibility to make sure family members are making good Christian decisions, don’t always respond with your head but give strong prayerful considerations and careful discernment before you offer the person a different path.


Jesus tells Peter to get behind him. Origen one of the Father’s of the church suggests that this means, He (Jesus) is leading the way and not Peter. This makes sense. Peter is not the way to the Father. It is Jesus Christ. He has no authority to show Jesus Christ the true way. We must always keep this in mind in our own lives. We are not leading the way. Jesus Christ is leading the way. This means, we must always ask him to show us the way that we might follow. His way is not always rosy. His way is the way of the Cross. We too must take up our crosses and follow him on this way. If we follow this way, we may never go astray and this way will lead us to eternal life with him in heaven.

Monday May 12, 2008: James 1:1-11; Mark 8:11-13

Saint James tells Christians to consider it a thing of joy if they encounter trials and persecutions. Why should a Christian rejoice in the face of trials? Biblical history shows us that this is always a test of faith. Abraham our father was tested. He was asked to sacrifice his only child, the child of promise. Job the righteous man was tested. He underwent many trials. He lost all that he had. Jesus Christ, who is himself God, was tempted by Satan. The important thing is to always persevere and overcome the temptations. Jesus Christ did not promise us that life will be all easy, but one promise he made to us is that at the end of the day, we will come out victorious. In the story of Abraham, because of his faith, he was credited with all righteousness; in the case of Job, the Lord blessed his later years more than his earlier years. We will always be rewarded for our perseverance in faith. The trials should not scare us, but we should look at them as another opportunity to strengthen our faith in the one who has called us.

What are some of your trials and how do you overcome them?

Wednesday May 7, 2008: Acts 20:28-38; John 17:11b-19

The divisions that exist in the Christian fold remain the greatest scandal in Christianity. It was clearly not the intention of Jesus that we be this divided. He prayed for us “that we may be one” just as he is with the Father. As painful as it is that all Christian churches are not sharing in the same Eucharist, we have become too critical of each other. On any given Sunday, the sermons that come forth from Christian pulpits against fellow Christian churches are so divisive that it is doubtful if we all believe in one Jesus Christ. Every Christian in the world today must do his own part to make sure that we have a unified Christianity. Our divisions do not help in building God’s kingdom in the world, yet, that is what Christians are called to do. We have allowed the Evil One to infect us with the Spirit of divisions. We must root out this spirit from our Christian communities. We all have a responsibility to bring to realization the prayer of Jesus Christ, “that we may be one.”


What can you do to promote Christian unity in the world?

Monday May 5, 2008: Acts 19:1-8; John 16:29-33

Jesus Christ does not deceive his followers that everything will be easy after they receive the Holy Spirit. Even though the Holy Spirit will be a helper to them, they will still face troubles in this world. The invitation to Christians faced with these troubles is to have courage. Christians are not to give in to the troubles and challenges of this world. Every true Christian needs courage to be able to face persecutions. These persecutions sometimes come from the people closest to you. These people may be fellow Christians who are weak in their own faith. These temptations always come in subtle ways. Have friends mocked you because you are still a virgin? Have you been called a weakling because you did not fight back one who has hurt you? Have your friends laughed at you because you did not get drunk at the party? Were you considered stupid because you did not lie to cut a deal? These are all temptations. Jesus did not succumb to the temptations of Satan and he wants us all to hold firm to our Christian values.


What are your own temptations? Are you courageous enough to resist them?

Romans 4: 13, 16-18, 22 (Saturday March 15, 2008 – Solemnity of St. Joseph, husband of Mary)

Do we follow Jesus because we have faith in him or do we follow him because we are afraid we will go to hell? We Catholics sometimes get fixated on laws. We like so much the language of obligation. I have to go to church on Sunday to fulfill my Sunday obligation; I have to go to church on the feast of the Immaculate Conception to fulfill my holy day of obligation. True and convicted Christians do not go to church because they are obliged to, they go because they have a relationship with Jesus and they know that in order to sustain this relationship, they need to be where he is with his people. It is this faith in Jesus that matters and not laws. The laws are not there to replace our personal relationship with Jesus, their purpose is to guide and strengthen us in this relationship.

We have to be careful not to take our gaze away from this relationship and concentrate on the laws. This is the situation St. Paul is facing with the people of Romans. They have reduced true religion to observing the Jewish laws and in a sense made religion more an external thing than what comes from within. Abraham was credited righteousness because of his faith in God. St. Joseph whose feast we celebrate today also had faith in God and did not go ahead to give Mary a bill of divorce.

How has your faith led you to righteousness?

John 8: 21-30, (Tuesday, March 11, 2008)

How do you overcome all the challenges of the world? How do you navigate this hostile world? How do you relate with difficult people in your life? Jesus Christ faced with a lot of difficulties and challenges knew where he belongs, not of this world, but above. He was able to show that he is beyond the things that try to hold him back in this world. As a Christian people, we do not belong to this world. We belong to something above. If we believe this fact, we would be careful how we respond to things that come our way daily. Our problem sometimes is that we drag ourselves below. When someone who is not a Christian is trying to make trouble with you and make life difficult for you, do you stoop low and engage them, or do you show them through your actions that you belong to something that is greater. Jesus Christ did not engage the people in useless arguments. He knew his identity, he stated it and he lived it. We are told at the end of today’s gospel that, “Be he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.” If we being to live like Jesus rather than engaging in fruitless arguments with non-believers, we will be able to draw many people into the family of Jesus.

How will you respond to attacks today?

John 7: 40-53 (Saturday, March 8, 2008)

Some people in the crowd are beginning to understand who Jesus Christ truly is. Some are beginning to think that he is the Christ. They are however still held back by their own human judgments. They are failing to understand that Jesus Christ is greater than all the biological origins they are trying to limit him to. Even as they try to trace this human history of his identity, they still do not understand that he actually falls within this history. Jesus Christ is properly of David’s family as it is evidenced in the genealogy of Jesus as it is found in Matthew 1: 1-25. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1) and because of this, he is humanly speaking, a proper native of the town of Bethlehem. The people’s prejudices and lack of faith would not let them see the Truth that was before them.

This is a caution to us Christians to be careful as to how we make judgments about people. Sometimes we have the tendency to make rash judgments and draw hasty conclusions about people without being open to truly know who they are.

How many times have you drawn conclusions about people just because of the way they look or something they said, that you did not really agree with?

Luke 21: 12-19 (Wednesday, November 28, 2007)

Jesus does not delude his followers that their life would be easy. It would be a challenging life. They will be persecuted because they have chosen to follow him. The evil people would seem to be the ones that are succeeding and they will Lord it over the Christians. When you begin to live a radical Christian life, people are going to think of you as being weird; your family members may even laugh at you. Your persecution may even come from family members who would say nasty things about you, just because you do not want to cooperate with them in cheating and lying. That is the cost of discipleship and Jesus Christ would not let you go unrewarded. All Christians need to do is endure and persevere. If they endure and persevere, they would be victorious. The Cross is Christian victory. Why would Jesus say some of us would be killed because of his name and at the same time say, not even a hair of our head would be destroyed? This is not a contradiction. Jesus Christ is telling us that we shall live forever unhurt in a new life that we shall receive by virtue of the testimony of our faith. It is in that new kingdom that Christians belong and not the present kingdom that would pass away.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, you persevered and joyfully carried your heavy Cross because you knew that the Cross was going to bring us redemption. Help us also to carry our crosses every day of our lives.

Luke 21: 5-11 (Tuesday, November 27, 2007)

Many Christians today are afraid of issues of the last judgment. We are carried away by prophesies of when the world would come. As Jesus tells us in the gospel, no one knows the time that this will come. The only motto for Christians should be “Always be ready.” I often ask people what they will do if they knew the Lord was coming tomorrow. I usually get interesting responses. Some will say they will spend the whole day in the church praying; others will say they will confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, for others, they will reconcile with all those they have wronged or who have wronged them. My response is that you don’t want to wait to know when the Lord will come before you begin to do these things. You have to start leaving your Christian life as you should, so that when the Lord comes he will find you doing the good work you always do. Christians should look with anticipation to the judgment. The only commandment at the judgment is love. If we live out radically the law of love Jesus has given to us, the judgment day would be a celebration of our victory over sin and death.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, help us to love as you have commanded. Strengthen us every day of our lives to abide in this love, so that when we face you at judgment, we may be found worthy to enter into your kingdom.

Malachi 3: 19-20a; 2Thessalonians 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19 (Sunday, November 18, 2007 – 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Today’s readings point us to the things that would happen during the day of the Lord. We hear that they would be earthquakes, kingdoms divided, massive destructions, epidemics, wars and rumors of wars, false prophets, persecutions, etc. All these signs have been with us for more than 2000 years. The early followers of Jesus saw these signs and thought that the day of the Lord was almost at hand. St. Paul will tell the people of Corinthians who are not married to stay that way because it is useless to get married when God is almost here.

When Jesus spoke about the destruction of the temple in the gospel of today, the apostles were overwhelmed with fear. The destruction of the temple meant a lost of everything they have. The temple was the one most important thing for Jewish people. This means that they were going to be down to nothing. What they did not understand is that God is going to be up to something in their life. God made a promise to them, I will be with you and I will help you through all this time of suffering. Not even a hair in your head will be hurt. All I ask of you is perseverance and endurance, at the end you would be victorious. At the end, the “Son of Justice” is going to be up to something in their life and that would be the victory over evil as the first reading of today tells us.

Christians today like the early apostles are always afraid about issues of the last judgment. Some preachers read the signs of the time and argue that the day of the Lord has started. They even fix dates when it started. Hal Lindsay in 1970 wrote in his book, “Death of the Great Planet Earth” that, the day of the Lord started with the creation of the state of Israel. As Jesus tells us in the gospel, no one knows the time that this will come. The only motto for Christians should be “Always be ready.” I often ask people what they will do if they knew the Lord was coming tomorrow. I usually get interesting responses. Some will say they will spend the whole day in the church praying; others will say they will confess their sins and ask for forgiveness, for others, they will reconcile with all those they have wronged or who have wronged them. My response is that you don’t want to wait to know when the Lord will come before you begin to do these things. You have to start leaving your Christian life as you should, so that when the Lord comes he will find you doing the good work you always do.

Jesus does not delude his followers that their life would be easy. It would be a challenging life. They will be persecuted because they have chosen to follow him. The evil people would seem to be the ones that are succeeding and they will Lord it over the Christians. Christians would even be called to give testimonies. Jesus says, don’t worry about what you have to say. All Christians need is endurance. All they need is perseverance. If they endure and persevere, they would be victorious. The Cross is Christian victory. When all the battles are over, God is going to restore us to where we belong. We do not belong to this world. The “Son of Justice” will bring us healing from all our diseases that seem incurable; He will bring peace upon us; He will give us love and destroy all divisions. He will be the all in all of our lives.

Let us persevere. Let us endure. Let us not be afraid of the day of the Lord. In fact, let us anticipate it. Rather than bringing us destruction, it will bring us victory.

Luke 17: 20-25 (Thursday, November 15, 2007)

In the Lords prayer we pray, “thy kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven.” What do we pray for? We pray that the glory of the Lord shine upon this earth, as it is in heaven; we pray that the peace of the Lord reign upon this earth, as it is in heaven; we pray that the joy of the Lord radiate this earth, earth as it is in heaven. Jesus tells us in the gospel of today that the kingdom of God is among us. God’s kingdom is here, but we are not seeing it. It is here in the Eucharist we share; it is here in our brothers and sisters, members of the ecclesia. In fact, we are the kingdom of God today. We should not look at the kingdom of God as an ideological concept; as something out there. We should look at it as something here with us. We all have the responsibility of bringing that kingdom to other people. Whatever Christian thing that we do furthers the realization of that kingdom here on earth.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, through our lives and work, may your kingdom come upon this earth, as it is in heaven.

2Maccabees 7: 1-2, 9-14; 2Thessalonians 2: 16-3:5; Luke 20: 27-38 (Sunday, November 11, 2007 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Today’s readings invite us to reflect on one of the fundamental aspect of our faith – the resurrection. In the first reading of today, the mother and her seven sons are martyred because of their refusal to live against the law of Yahweh. Both Leviticus 11: 7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8 prohibit Jewish people from eating pork. These Old Testament martyrs saw the life after as being more important than their present life which will eventually end. They professed that they would rather die than violate the law of Yahweh. They believed that eternity with God was more important than the short securities of this present life. Their statements when faced with this severe persecution reflect a deep theology of martyrdom.

Ø They believed that it was better for the Just to die than to succumb to sin. The Just know that earthly death is only temporal, the life beyond is more important. They know that their death is not in vain as God will vindicate them. After many years of persecution of the church by the Roman emperors, Christians were steadfast in their faith and at the end of the day, God vindicated them. 2000 years later, we can confidently say the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the faith. When faced with the difficulties of this world, we shouldn’t give up our faith. For the Christian, it is better to die than to deny the faith; it is better to fail that exam than to cheat to be successful; it is better to lose that business deal than to lie to get the deal; etc.

Ø The just would be resurrected. Jesus proclaims himself as the resurrection and the life in John 11:25 and he goes on ahead to raise his friend Lazarus back to life. He does not just stop there, he himself after three days of his death, came back to life to show that he is truly the resurrection and the life and death has no power over him. St. Paul tell us in 1Thessalonians 4:14 that if we believe that Jesus died and rose, God will bring forth with him from the dead also those who have fallen asleep believing in him.

Ø There is no resurrection for the wicked. They shall incur the wrath of God. The martyr embraces his or her death joyfully knowing that the person who is causing him this pain does not believe in the power of the resurrection. If only they believed in the power of the resurrection, they will not treat fellow human beings that way. They act the way they do because they have given their lives to sin and as St. Paul tells us, the wages of sin is death.

Ø The martyr believes that his or her suffering is because of their sin but their death has an expiatory value. The sin here does not necessarily mean the giving of self totally to sin. It is an understanding that as a human being he or she is sinful but what the martyr has, that the wicked person does not have is that the martyr believes in the power of God’s mercy and believes that there is redemption in the precious blood of the lamb. The martyrs blood brings expiation from all their sins.

More than any other thing, today’s readings are an invitation to Christian hope. Christian hope is basically the hope in the resurrection. St. Paul tells us in 1Corinthians 15 that, “if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is void of content and your faith is empty too.” So, for St. Paul, our resurrection is closely linked with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is for the reason that Christ has been raised from the dead that believers can hope that they too will experience the resurrection. The Sadducees in the gospel of today use Deuteronomy 25:5 to argue against the resurrection. It is important to keep in mind that the Sadducees who are an aristocratic, conservative group that hold only the Torah to be authoritative, do not believe in neither angels nor the resurrection. Jesus would not respond to them using the later development of the teaching on the resurrection as it is found in both Maccabees and Daniel. They would not accept these books as authoritative. So, Jesus uses the teaching from Exodus 3. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not the God of the dead but the God of the living.

When the Sadducees argue against Jesus using the example of marriage, they are looking at resurrection more or less as a resuscitation of the body. Christian resurrection as understood in the New Testament is not resuscitation. It is a transformation in which our bodies are no longer mortal or corruptible. The resurrection conquers all authority and the last enemy of the human person is death. The resurrection conquers death. Since death is conquered by the resurrection of Jesus, Christians too can hope in the resurrection. And since Christians are transformed and they would live forever with Jesus in heaven where he is the all in all, there would be no need for marriage. The only marriage will be the marriage of the lamb, where Christians would unite with their master and savior Jesus Christ and would see God as he truly is.

Luke 18: 9-15 (Saturday, November 10, 2007 – St. Leo the Great)

Football season for us is over. Last week Friday, Parkersburg Catholic High School played against Williamstown High School. As the Chaplain at Parkers Catholic, I was there at the game supporting them and hoping that they win the game. There is no way I could have been supporting Williamstown and at the same time supporting Catholic High. That is what Jesus tells us in the gospel of today. You cannot serve two masters at the same time; you cannot play for Parkersburg Catholic and Williamstown high school at the same time. You must choose one Master. For us Christians, Jesus Christ is our Master and we must solely depend on him and root only for him. I understand that for some of you, even though you were born Catholic, you have not made that radical commitment to Jesus, so in a sense, you are still sitting on the fence. Jesus Christ does not want people sitting on the fence, you must choose today whom you want to follow. Through our baptism, you belong to Jesus and let our whole lives be consumed by our love for him.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, I consecrate myself totally to you today. I declare my membership in your family. Help me to love you each dare more.

Romans 14: 7-12 (Thursday, November 8, 2007)

So often, I run into Christians who say things such as: “it is my life, let me live it the way I want to;” or they will say, “I have the freedom to live my life as I want to.” These statements do not reflect a Christian understanding of freedom. Christian freedom is not being free from God, but it is being free for God. Our lives St. Paul tells us today, are not to be lived in isolation but should be lived in, with and for God. God is the source of our lives and we belong to him. Our membership in the body of Christ calls us to live in relation with other people who are part of this body. This means that we must show concern for each other. The way you live your life affects other members of the body of Christ. There is also an invitation here to be kind to other members of the body of Christ. Rather than pass judgments on the weak ones, pray that they may be strong and live fully their Christian vocation; rather than looking down on other members of the body who are not as graceful as you are, pray that God showers them with his graces so that they may become the people that God has called them to be.

Prayer:
God our Father, thank you for the gift of our brothers and sisters in the Christian family. Help us to appreciate who they are and to help them realize their full potentials.

Wisdom 3: 1-9; Romans 6: 3-9; John 6: 37-40 (Friday, November 2, 2007 – All Souls)

What we celebrate today is Christian hope. As Christians we believe that death is not the end of life, it is a beginning of new life, a new life in our eternal home where we truly belong. Today is an opportunity for us to commit the souls of dead family members, as well as friends and fellow Christians into the hands of God. We believe that Christ’s resurrection is a victory over death and those who shared in the baptism of Christ would also share in the resurrection of Christ. We celebrate hope because we believe that Jesus will raise us all up on the last day. We need not fear death as Christians because Jesus has conquered death and has given us life. He has purchased us with his precious blood and he keeps watch that none of us would be lost. Our only responsibility is that we believe in him.

Prayer:
Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord and let your perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace, Amen. May the souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Luke 8: 19-21 (Tuesday, September 25, 2007)

The primary requirement for becoming a member of Jesus' family is hearing the word of God and acting on it. The Word of God is manifested in the person of Jesus. Striving to be like him is important in order to become members of the family of Jesus. All through the New Testament, we see a new election theology in which not only the people of Israel are called to become members of God's family but everyone who adheres to the Word of God, Jesus Christ. St. Paul does a beautiful job when he reconciles the election theology of the New Testament with that of the Old Testament. He says that Jesus Christ is the singular descendant of Abraham and all Christians are rightful descendants of Abraham by what God has done in Jesus. The waters of baptism are very strong and they make us rightfully members of the family of Jesus. Baptism is not a ceremony that we celebrate in order not to go to hell should we die, it is rather, an election into the everlasting bond of the family of Jesus. This calling is so special that Christians should have nothing more important for them than working to remain in this relationship with Jesus. The key to remaining in this relationship with Jesus is hearing the word of God and acting upon it.

Prayer:
Jesus, thank you from liberating us from our life of bondage and making us your sons and daughters. Help us to always remain in this relationship of love with you and the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Amos 8: 4-7 & Luke 16: 1-13 (Sunday, September 23, 2007 – Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

To understand the first reading of today, we need to understand the historical and social setting in which the prophet Amos was prophesying. Amos prophesied when Uzziah was king of Judah. This prophecy was given two years before the earthquake that destroyed Judah. This earthquake marked the crime of uzziah when he attempted to offer incense in the temple. These were good years for Israel. There was surplus in the land as well as prosperity. Business at this time was good and the economy was very prosperous.

Amos’ message was directed to a people who lived in prosperity, took on the external forms of religion and deprived the poor among them of justice. The people did not abandon the Lord, they continued to worship the Lord in their sinfulness as we too do today. But friends, God is more pleased with righteousness and justice than with sacrifices. We, like the people of Israel are called by the Prophet Amos to abandon our sinfulness and worship the Lord in truth and Spirit. In the first reading of today, I see three crimes Amos prophesied against, and these crimes still exist today.

The first crime is that of trampling upon the needy and destroying the poor of the Land. Amos is speaking against oppression of the poor. What were the rich doing to the poor? They placed heavy taxes on houses and land in order to force the poor to sell their houses to them. This is the greed and avarice of those who rule us. Amos is talking about those land hungry upper class citizens. They want to rob the poor of their land. Land was very important in this culture. In most cases, this land has been handed down from generations to generations and it was one thing the poor could hold unto and be proud of. Placing heavy taxes on the land made it incapable for them to pay and the wealthy bought over these lands at cheaper prices. Our society today is marked by this. We all have friends, relatives, neighbors who have been forced out of their homes because they cannot meet up the high mortgage rates. Many small family run companies have been forced out of business by wealthy leaders of our society. We have enshrined the principle, “I did it on my own, you too can do it on your own.” Saints, have you forgotten that these five fingers are not equal? Have you forgotten that your wealth is not yours, but you are holding it in custody of the poor and needy of our community? God has generously blessed you so that you may generously give to those who do not have.

Amos also attacked the crime of cheating. We have put in place all forms of laws to rob the poor. Is there anybody here that sells insurance? How many times has your insurance company refused to pay rightful benefits? If you are car dealer, how many times have you really paid too low below the value of a car as a trade-in because you know this person is desperate in getting a new car and has no cash down? If you are a loan officer, how many times have you charged too much interest on that poor person who is trying to get a loan for a house, car or college?

Amos prophesied against the crime of selling the just man for silver and the poor man for a pair of sandals. It was a very common practice in the Ancient Near East to sell people into slavery in order to pay debts. We are told that the poor fell deeper and deeper into debt to wealthy landowners that they finally had to sell their land and even themselves. In 2 Kings 4:1-7 we get a clearer picture of what Amos is saying. In this passage we see the story of a poor widow in the time of Elijah that was being forced to sell her children into slavery in payment for the deceased husband’s debt. Why did Amos use the example of a pair of sandals? This is to show us how cheap it was to buy a poor person. This was a serious crime because in Israel, there was a law against depriving a person of his basic needs even if it serves as collateral. That is why Exodus 22:25-26 tells us that, “If you take your neighbors cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset, for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? if he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”

Saints, Amos has a message for all of us sitting here today. Our country is a rich and prosperous one. Our treatment of the poor in our society is as scornful to Yahweh as was that of Israel. The poor today are those who do not have at all, our brothers and sisters in the streets, our brothers and sisters addicted to drugs and alcohol, our sisters being abused by their husbands, our brothers and sisters who lost their jobs without any just cause or reason. Many of our people have lost their homes and property to the rich because they cannot meet the financial demands of our society. Our courts have denied justice to many of our brothers and sisters because they cannot afford the legal fees, and so they get stuck with a court-assigned attorney that is not interested in their justice. The helpless people we kill everyday through abortion. We have waged unjust wars killing innocent people. We rejoice saying God has given us victory, bring them on, in God we trust. Friends, God is telling us today that we need to do something about our land. God is giving us the responsibility of managing well the resources he has entrusted to us.

This is what the Gospel message today is all about. Stewardship, stewardship, and I repeat again, stewardship. Most of us sitting in this church today are the most lucky of our brothers and sisters in the community. Many are homeless, they have nothing to eat, but thank God most of us gathered here this morning have a home to return to and can afford our meals. Our own possessions should be able to benefit the needy. If we must be truly disciples, we have to convert mammon into heavenly capital by sharing it with others, particularly the needy. We cannot keep all we have to ourselves, less we are only building our treasures here on earth. Christ is telling us today, you cannot serve both God and mammon. You have to be loyal to God or be succumbed to mammon. He puts before you today, Life and death. Choose life that you may live. There is no middle standing. You have to choose one thing. Revelations 3: 14 tells us you are lukewarm, you are neither hot nor cold, because you are neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. We do not want lukewarm Christians, we want Christians who are active in the community. We want Christians who are ready to share their resources with the poor and needy of the community. In this way, God will bless you abundantly and you would be rewarded with eternal life.

Luke 8: 4-15 (Saturday, September 22, 2007)

The last few words in the gospel of today are the most important for us. We want to be the seed that falls on the rich soil. How do we receive the word of God? To be the seed that falls on rich ground, we must accept the word of God with a generous and good heart. Are we open when Jesus speaks to us? Perhaps when he tells us the things we want to hear, “yes” and when he challenges us to the things we do not want to hear, we do not. We get into the whole attitude of picking and choosing what we want to hear and want we want to believe. Our faith lies in accepting willingly whatever God wants to give us to us. It is not faith if we are only open to what we want to have from God. The teaching in today’s gospel does not presume that things are going to be easy. Bearing Christian fruit is not easy. However, we must persevere. Christians do not just give up when things become difficult. Christians hold firm unto the living Christ, knowing that he would lead them through the current storms to times of greater success.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, we trust in the plan you have for us. Use us as your will to accomplish the work of your kingdom. Send us crosses and sufferings, if these will make us become truly the people you have called us to be.

Luke 6: 20-26 (Wednesday, September 12, 2007)

Jesus Christ has four “woes” in this gospel of today. If this part of the gospel is taken literally, it would seem as if Jesus is a sadist. Jesus is not against us being rich; Jesus is not opposed to our being filled; he doesn’t mind if we laugh; and he is not angry when people speak good about us. So, why the “woes”? The problem is with our attitudes to these things. We must always recognize that he is the source of all that we have. We incur these woes upon ourselves when we see these things as an end to themselves and live as if there is no God. Christians must not strive to be rich at all cost – they must not lie and cheat in order to become rich. And when Christians are rich, they must recognize that all riches come from God and they would be held accountable for how they use these riches. Those who are rich, and are selfish with their riches, not using them to help others and build up God’s kingdom, have already received their consolation in this world. Those who have given themselves to the things of the world, indulge themselves and rejoice in this world, they shall not laugh in heaven because their home is hell where they weep and cry. As God’s people, the most important thing for us is Jesus Christ. When we acknowledge him as our personal Lord and Savior, we shall receive consolation in heaven and would rejoice forever in the banquet of the lamb that was slain.

Prayer:
Jesus I love you, all I have is yours, yours I am and yours I want to be, do with me whatever you will.

Matthew 18: 21 - 19-1 (Thursday, August 16, 2007)

Without faith, it is difficult to forgive others who have offended you. You need faith to recognize that through the event of the Cross, Jesus Christ has forgiven you all your sins. Saint Paul tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still living in sin. He forgave us and offered his life for our salvation even before we asked for forgiveness. As he has forgiven us, he invites us today to forgive other people. We should not place limits on how much we forgive, but generously forgive as Jesus continues to forgive us. There is no offense your fellow human person can commit against you that is greater than that which you have committed against God. If he whom we have offended the most forgive you, why can you not in the same way forgive those who have offended you?

Forgiveness brings us healing. It makes us whole. Until we forgive, we do not feel whole. Our moods always change when we encounter the person that has offended us. As Christians, the right thing to do is to ask for forgiveness even if we are the ones that have been offended. That is the Christian difference that we must take seriously.

Forgiveness from the heart does not mean that you forget that the event ever took place. It means not holding the offence against the person that offends you. This also means not keeping records of offences you have forgiven. Like Jesus, forgive without counting the offences.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, forgive us today all our failings, as we continue to forgive those who offend us. Give us the graces we need to forgive those who have hurt us the most and those we feel, we cannot forgive.