Sunday Homilies by Fr. Rudolf V. D’ Souza

  Click here for other Sunday Homilies 

A New book from Fr. Rudy.
Click here for more...

19th Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 12, 2007 - Year: C
Wis 18:6-9; Heb. 11:1-2, 8-19; Lk. 12:32-48
Faith, Endurance and Perseverance

First Reading...
"The night of the deliverance from Egypt was made known beforehand to our ancestors, so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge of the oaths in which they trusted.

The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies were expected by your people. For by the same means by which you punished our enemies you called us to yourself and glorified us.

For in secret the holy children of good people offered sacrifices, and with one accord agreed to the divine law, so that the saints would share alike the same things, both blessings and dangers; and already they were singing the praises of the ancestors." [Wis. 18:6-9]

Second Reading...
"Now faith the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.

For Abraham looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself, though barren, received power to conceive, even when she was too old, because she considered him faithful who had promised.

Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, 'as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.'

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his own son, of whom he had been told, 'It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.' Abraham considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead - and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back." [Heb. 11:1-2, 8-19]

Gospel Reading...
"Jesus said to his disciples, 'Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have the sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.

Peter said, 'Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for everyone?' And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful.

That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.

From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded." [Lk. 12:32-48]

Jesus said, "Be like those who are waiting for their master to return." [Lk. 12:36] We never know when he is coming. But our task is to wait fo him patiently.

Helpful narration:
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

Helpful Event:
Once I met one of our parishioners who felt sad and experienced a bit of dejection in her life. I asked why she was sad. She told me that she didn’t get any SMS from her husband from Kuwait. I told her that he may be sick, or too busy in his work. Then she told me that he regularly used to phone her or send SMS to her. I consoled her and she left my office. After a week she comes smiling and happy. I asked her what had happened. She told me that her husband had lost his mobile phone and he was helpless. He was too tensed until he got his new connection. This made her happy that in spite of the loss of phone, she got connected with her husband.

At times in our daily life we need to wait patiently for results, or things to happen. If we lose patience, then it will hurt us badly.

Life itself is a matter of waiting. We need to wait for a new baby. Need to wait for love to happen. We need to wait for results of our children. We need tremendous patience for life to change for better.

A mother was always weeping for her son to get better in his lifestyle. He was a rogue. She used to pray incessantly and go for all types of prayer services conducted in our parish. Recently everything changed. What happened? Well, the close friends of that guy, beat him up to that extent that he had to be hospitalized and had to be lovingly nursed by his mother. Now all things are in their place. This guy has promised that he would never ever again lead a bad life. Promises are made, and we cross the fingers and wait things to happen.

The farmer sows the seeds and waits the seed to sprout and then he needs to do a series of things to get this seed to grow and bear fruit.

In my village where I lived out my childhood ten percent of working flock were farmers. Those working parents spent a lot of their time in the fields, sometimes weeks at a time. At home, the most common question that cried out of the mouth of the young children was, "When is dad coming home?" To reduce the pain of the little ones, the mothers would reassure them that their fathers would soon be home. They would tell the little ones to believe and have patience, to just wait and see!

Waiting has a special effect of growing in patience. We try our best to better our situations around us. We wait things to happen, better house, better health and better amenities around us. But what about our experience of the Lord? Do we try to be better in our relationship with the Lord? Are we too tired to spend time in prayer?

The First reading tells us of the faith of our forefathers who waited for liberation from the captivity of the Egyptians. They waited in hope that the Lord will come to help them in their time of pain and uncertainty. We know that God had promised through the prophets, He delivered His children and destroyed their enemies. Through the fulfillment of this unsurpassable victory, God was glorified through His people.

In the second reading we hear of the faith and patience of Abraham, his wife Sarah, Isaac and Jacob. [Heb. 11:8-9] Reviewing the faith of Abraham, he obeyed God and left his homeland for the Promised Land. There he lived in tents throughout his entire life, always looking towards to the city of joy in the Lord. While he died in faith, not having inherited the Divine promises, he knew that he was a stranger and foreigner on earth. In his heart, he desired a better country, that is, a joy-filled one.

The faith experience of Abraham is to be awarded. He had no doubts that his barren wife would conceive at that advanced age. [Heb. 11:11] He believed that although he was in his old age, descendants would be born of him, these numbering as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. [Heb. 11:12] When asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, he believed that God could raise someone from the dead. [Heb. 17-19] In all things, Abraham had faith in God, patiently waiting to see how the goodness of God would develop. Such faith and patience is the model that all Christians should strive to imitate.

The Gospel of Luke tells us to be prepared in the sense of, "persevering in our living faith." We should not relapse into the old sinful nature. Why? No one knows when the Lord God shall call us to appear before Him. After having persevered in our living faith throughout our lives, should we suddenly relapse so we can be counted among those who are lost forever? Certainly not! We cannot afford not to have our lamps lit. We cannot afford to be sleeping when we should be alert. We cannot afford to lose our opportunity when we have endured so much until now.

In the second section of this passage Jesus draws a picture of the wise and the unwise steward. In the east the steward had almost unlimited power. He was himself a slave, yet he had control of all the other slaves. A trusted steward ran his master’s house for him and administered his estate. The unwise steward made two mistakes.

(i) He said, I will do what I like while my master is away; he forgot that the day of reckoning must come. We have a habit of dividing life into compartments. There is a part in which we remember that God is present; and there is a partin, which we never think of him at all. We tend to draw a line between sacred and secular; but if we really know what Christianity means we will know that there is no part of life when the master is away.

We are working and living forever in our great task-master’s eye.

(ii) He said, I have plenty of time to put things right before the master comes; there is nothing so fatal as to feel that we have plenty of time. Jesus said, “ We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night comes when no one can work” (John 9: 4). Denis Mackail tells how, when Sir James Barrie was old, he would never make arrangements or give invitations for a distant date. “Short notice now! he would say. One of the most dangerous days in a man’s life is when he discovers the word “to-morrow.” The passage finishes with the warning’ that knowledge and privilege always bring responsibility. Sin is doubly sinful to the man who knew better; failure is doubly blameworthy in the man who had every chance to do well.

Jesus says, "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them." In these beautiful words, Jesus tells us two things. First, those who persevere in their living faith, they are blessed. Secondly, faith and patience are regarded as spiritual virtues that are so great in the eyes of God that as a reward to those who possess these qualities, Jesus will sit down with them, serve them and eat with them. Where will this take place? in the Kingdom of God. Blessed are the slaves who will inherit the Kingdom of God!

Jesus concluded His teaching by saying, "From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded." [Lk 12:48] In other words, some will have to give a greater accountability before God than others.

Those who are entrusted with the care of souls, more will be demanded of them. These persons consist of the clergy members, the parents who have children, the teachers, the politicians, the judges and lawyers, the police, etc... Each of these, according to their occupations, shall be made accountable.

Those who have children will have a greater accountability to give than a mother who is without children. What kind of accountability will that be? Parents will be asked if they raised their children in the Catholic faith, if their children were baptized, confirmed, made their First Communion, if they were encouraged to go to Confession and receive the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. For all these things are spiritual obligations of Catholic parents.

Fasten your Seat Belts:
Once while I was travelling by air, after landing the air-hostess informed us to fasten the seat belt until the aircraft would come to a complete halt at the airport. One of the passengers unfastened his belt and was reading newspaper as soon as the aircraft landed. Well, may be he had experience I thought. Suddenly there was a jerk and the man strongly hit his chin against the front seat and lost two teeth consequently. He was writhing in pain. All looked at him. He was silent. He was wrong. So the Lord says, fasten your belts and wait for the Lord.

This passage has two points to ponder: In its narrower sense it refers to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; in its wider sense it refers to the time when God’s summons enters a man’s life, a call to prepare to meet our God. ‘There is praise for the servant who is ready.. The long flowing robes of the east were a hindrance to work; and when a man prepared to work he gathered up his robes under his girdle to leave himself free for activity. The eastern lamp was like a cotton wick floating in a sauce-boat of oil. Always the wick had to be kept trimmed and the lamp replenished or the light would go out.

No man can tell the day or the hour when eternity will invade time and summons will come. How, then, would we like God to find us?

(i) We would like him to find us with our work completed.

Life for so many of us is filled with loose ends. There are things undone and things half done; things put off and things not even attempted. Great men have always the sense of a task that must be finished.

Jesus himself said, “I have accomplished the work which thou gayest me to do” (John 17: 4). No man should ever lightly leave undone a task he ought to have finished, before night falls.

(ii) We would like God to find us at peace with our fellow men

We should be ready to face God when he comes into our life. We have no worry when God himself is going to judge us with all compassion and sympathy. When we are at peace with one another, then there is no reason for fear.

  Click here for other Sunday Homilies