Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
My faith has been tested many times during the course of my priesthood. But in recent times, it has not been tested more than during my last visit home. You already know that my mother had had a fall and my father had gotten cataract surgeries on both his eyes. My bother’s family and I spent a couple of weeks with my parents and it was a time for much assurance and comfort for all of us. But as time arrived for each of us to leave, I could sense the despair and gloom that was beginning to set in at home. Perhaps because of her gradual recovery from the fall, or perhaps because of our leaving, mother began to experience symptoms she had never experienced before – short periods of absolute exhaustion. The day before returned to Dayton, I had to rush her to the emergency room. Her vital signs were all normal, yet her symptoms would not leave her. I was to leave for the airport at 4:00 in the morning the day I was leaving. At 3:30 she had another one of these attacks. I almost decided that I would cancel my flight and stay back till she would stabilize. She snapped out of it and asked me to proceed with my journey. I did, partly because I had to be back here for the weekend masses, but also partly because I entrusted my mother to God in faith. I lay my head on her chest and entrusted her to my God. It has been the hardest good-bye I have even said to mother and father. My faith in my God sustains me even as I nervously continue to do ministry here.
Today’s readings pose a challenge to us. They challenge us to live lives a certain way. They challenge us to live life with a specific perspective. They provide no room for ambiguity. A Christian life is got to be essentially “Christian.” In this homily we are going to discover what it means to live life from the Christian perspective. For us, here at this parish, we call this “discipleship.”
Let us begin with the first reading from the book of Wisdom. It is really strange that the book of wisdom should have something to say about the Exodus event. Nevertheless, it tries to deal with a puzzling question. Were the struggles of the Exodus event necessary? So much blood shed, so much violence, so many struggles – were they all really necessary? Was God playing favorites when God acted on behalf of the Israelites and destroyed their enemies without mercy? Wisdom answers the question by saying that the Exodus events and the misfortunes of the Egyptians should be not interpreted as God’s ruthlessness or favoritism toward the Israelites, but rather, as events needed by Israel to learn important lessons in life. The defeat of Egypt was meant to teach Israel the virtue and responsibilities necessary to live as the people of God. The Exodus event was really Israel’s class room. The Exodus event was meant to teach Israel to live with God’s perspective.
Today’s three practical implications: The second reading from the letter to the Hebrews and the gospel reading from Luke give us three perspectives. Let us call this the Christian perspectives from which a Christian must live his or her life.
1. First, Like Abraham, Christian life must be lived in faith. By faith, the author of the letter to the Hebrews is not referring to the diluted meaning of faith i.e., mere belief in a higher being. Faith is defined as “the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” “Heb 11:1-2). Faith is living life from the divine perspective. Faith is living human life from God’s point of view. What does this mean for me? It means that if I believe that God had called me to ministry in Dayton, then God will take care of my affairs, And if there are struggles due to this, it is because God is giving me the lessons of life. After all, did not Jesus face the same struggles? I can think of people that have lost jobs, their loved ones, their marriage, the last year? How does all this make sense? It takes faith to somehow believe that from God’s perspective it still does and will make sense. Just as the Exodus events makes sense, just a the death and resurrection of Jesus make sense, our struggle-filled life does make sense for God. “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.” A Christian perspective specifically means that we live life with God’s vision. .
2. Second, in the first half of the gospel reading, God calls us to be vigilant. I am reminded of a metaphor that G. K Chesterton used. Chesterton gives the example of little children playing soccer on a small field. At the edge of this field on all four sides is a cliff. The children play but they play rather unsafely. Now imagine that someone puts a fence on all four sides in such a way that no one can fall off the cliff. That would make the children safer, the game more enjoyable and life a little more secure. In the same way that fences provided safety, the Scriptures and the teaching of the church provide us safety nets. To step outside these fences is to step on a slippery slope. And once we step on the slippery slope, it is a slippery slope. When Jesus asks us to be vigilant, he is asking us to remain within the confines of God’s will made known to us through Jesus. God has made his will known and to live life within the boundary of God’s will is to live life with the assurance of salvation.
3. Third, through the parable of the faithful and prudent servant in the second half of the gospel, Jesus tells his followers that we must live prudent lives. In the Catholic tradition, along with fortitude, justice and temperance, prudence is one of the cardinal virtues. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines prudence as the virtue that “disposes practical reason to discern our true good in very circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it.” It says “the prudent person looks where he is going,” (CCC 1806) even in the midst of a struggle-filled life. According to Jesus, a prudent person is one “who the master will on arrival find doing” what the Master has willed him to do. This is the crucial difference between the prudent person and an imprudent person. The prudent person does not allow life to happen to him/her; a prudent person makes life happen. A prudent person has a vision, a goal in life that leads him/her to the Master’s table. What are we doing with our talents, our wealth, our life?
Our Eucharist every Sunday is a banquet at which the Master and we participate. Let this coming week be such that we can come back to this banquet next week and the Master can say to us, “Well done, my faithful and prudent steward.” Amen. - Fr. Satish Joseph