19th ORDINARY SUNDAY:
WIS. 18:6-9; Heb. 11: 1-2, 8-19; LUKE12: 32-48
One day a young woman was travelling
from one place to another. On her way to the railway station, she saw many orphans,
diseased and hungry children. As she got into the train she said to herself
“The World is in need of a big change and needs a true transformation” a she
started interacting with God: God why don’t you do something to make this world
a better place for all of us? God replied: “I have done something about it. I
have created you” Then that woman recognized that she was God’s great instrument
and God wants her to do something for those children that she had seen. Jesus
revealed to her the desire of His heart for “victims of unloved” and called her
“Come be my light”. By recognizing call,
the woman took risk in her life and she came out of four walls of convent with
rupees five and served the poor her entire life. She is going to be canonized soon
by Pope Francis. That woman is none other than St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Yes dear brothers, Mother Teresa
recognized her call and she took risk in her life. So God blessed her.
Similarly God created you and me in his likeness and image with a specific
purpose. He does nothing in vain. The common purpose of God in creating Human
being is “To know him, to love him and to reach him”. But God wants every one
of us to act in a special way to reach this goal. Today’s readings are inviting
us to take risk in our life to do the will of God. So that God will bless us. Through
the readings of the day, Jesus is asking us to find out where our treasure is,
either is it in earthly things or heavenly things?
Abraham’s real treasure was his
faith in God and his heart was with God. So he took the risk. God said to
Abraham “Go from your country to the land that I will show you. I will make of
you great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you
will be a blessing” (Gen 12:1-2) Though Abraham had no proofs for God’s
promises but he believed in God and had hope in God. He denied himself and
followed God. Now he became the father of multitude nations.
Mother Teresa and Abraham’s lives
teach us and initiate us to take risk for the greater glory of God. Then how
can we achieve this goal? How can I take risk in the present world? How can I
get blessings from God? For all these questions the answer is in today’s
Gospel. In the Gospel Christ presents the perpetual attitude, that all
Christian should have in order to reach the ultimate goal. Jesus said “Let your loins be girded and your
lamps burning and be like men who are waiting for their masters return” (Lk
12:35-36) As Christians our lives are marked by three attitudes
1) girded
loins -- Know Christ and live Christ
2) lighted
lamps – Be a Warrior for Christ and Share Christ
3) waiting
hearts – Be faithful to Christ till the end
Girded loins:
St. Augustine interpreted this as ‘departing from evil’. Yes, we have to detach
ourselves from all that hold us back from Christ. We must abstain from all
those lustful desires and habits which hold and hinder our journey towards the
new and eternal city – Jerusalem. Girded loins symbolize personal preparation of
knowing Christ whoever knows Christ. Then he will become a new creation i.e. “If
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the
new has come.” (2 cor 5:17)
lighted lamps: Jesus
in his sermon on the mount said “ You are the light of the world… let your
light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your father in heaven”(Mt 5: 14,16). Through baptism our lives were lit by
Christ and we became warrior to Christ. Warrior will not be calm in battle field
so we too also perform certain actions. Our lord Jesus is asking us to keep
these lamps burning by doing good works.
Waiting hearts: Waiting hearts symbolizes ‘Be vigilant and ready to face the Lord’. One of the
traditional means for remaining alert is prayer.
The most important element in prayer is listening to God – an attitude of
giving attention to the "tiny whispering sound" of the Lord (1 Kings
19:11-12). We can tune our ears to the
divine sounds of love, harmony and peace. Let us recall the words of the Book
of Revelation: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my
voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him and he with
me" (3:20).
Jesus said that his second coming
would be as sudden and unexpected as the arrival of the master of household. So
be ready to meet Christ. When God calls, we have to meet Him and to give
Him an account of our life on earth. God sees whether we carry out his plan or not.
So as a Christian,
take the risk of selling your property of licit pleasures, barrow light from
Christ and shine before others. Mary our mother did same thing. She risked her
life to God, by saying “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me
according to your word.” (Lk1:38) She
allowed herself to carry Christ in her womb and she listened Christ words and
practiced in her life. By that she became the model for all Christians.
So let us think of our lives. Are we able to take risk like
Abraham, Mary, Jesus and Mother Theresa to show Christ to others? Am I able to
say ‘My treasure is in heaven’? Let us think about ourselves.
In the world there are 3 kinds of people “The first one those who
are Immovable, The second one those who are Movable, The third one those who
are Move.” Let us become the persons of Move that is having high goal to meet
Christ. Let our dream may be fulfilled by God’s grace. Amen.
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