The theme of my homily is, ‘trusting in what matters the
most.’ The liturgy allows us to reflect on the things that we trust and helps
us to direct our trust towards God who is the source of all the things that we
trust. It is God who created every little thing that we trust. Our trust
towards God becomes tangible through trusting his creation. For example when I
trust my wife, I must know that it is God who created her and brought us
together. Or when I trust someone or something we must know that God is the one
who created that person or that thing. God must be in the center of any trust
in our lives.
I would like to
narrate an anecdote to understand why only trust in God remains eternal and
everything else will fade away.
Once the train ticket inspector entered a crowded
compartment and there he found an old worn out purse. He searched for the
identity of the person and found nothing except the picture of Jesus in it. He
asked the people there and an elderly person said that it was his. The inspector
asked him to prove and he replied saying that it had the picture of Jesus. The
inspector said that anyone could have it but could he explain. The senior man
said that it was a gift from his father and he kept his parent’s picture
because they were great. Later he placed his own photo thinking he was
handsome. Soon his girlfriend took that place, and later his wife, and finally
his son. His parents, wife all passed away, his friends left him alone and his
son went his own way. What was left for him was only Jesus.
Prophet Jeremiah encourages the people to trust in God
and not in human devices. He prophesied during the troubling times when people
of Israel thought that best way to survive is to make alliance with the kingdom
of Egypt. This was rebuffed by the prophet by challenging the elders and people
to focus on God of freedom and not the Egyptian slavery. Jeremiah has a clear
message to the people of Israel that trust in God is crucial during the
troubling times and while Egyptian wealth is temptingly attractive. As we know
we are tempted to shift our focus on something attractive and hence trust in
it. This does not mean it is safe and free. It is important to not to lose
sight of what matters when we are allured by attractive benefits. The grass on
the other side is not greener but we need to water our own lawn.
In the Gospel Jesus teaches the disciples that the care
for the needful matters more than anything else in life. Jesus was addressing a
mixed crowd of people from different walks of life. The crowd comprised of
poor, hungry, sad, abused, discards, rich and so on. The beatitudes speak
directly to everyone and conclude with a message to trust in what is important
and what matters the most. In the first three beatitudes Jesus makes remark
about the poor, hungry and sad. Poverty leads to hunger and hunger leads to
sadness. Jesus encourages the poor, hungry and sad to keep trusting in the
kingdom of God who is the source of satisfaction and joy. But as we know God
brings happiness to these people through generous people who are ready to help
the needy. Hence, God is the source of every good and every help. When we feed
the hungry, when we wipe tears of people who are sad, it is God who is working
through us. As St. Ignatius says, we see God in each other.
The next beatitudes speak directly to the people who have
been called by names or abused by the powerful or marginalized for they will
get their reward in due season. Jesus speaks about the people who have
victimized because they do and speak the truth and they trust in doing the
right thing. They are generally not liked by people because they are in their
way. Therefore, they are chastised, bad-talked, rumored, gossiped, and
sometimes even killed. Through these beatitudes Jesus is warning the people who
are wicked and want to bring down the truthful people. They might seem like
they are winning but as Jesus says, you will have your consolation now by being
wicked but you shall go hungry and you shall mourn and weep one day. But for
those who are being victimized because they stand for truth will be rewarded
duly. They will be joyful for this is the way the prophets were treated.
In conclusion, Jesus expects us to focus on what matters
the most. Firstly trust in God because he is the ultimate source of everything
that we trust in this life. We might have temptation to give into allurements
but we have to trust in what is important to us in life. Secondly, let us not
lose focus in what matters the most just because someone does not like us or
some does not like us to speak the truth. We might be discouraged and
bad-talked but our reward will be great because truth will set us free and
truth cannot be suppressed for too long.
Amen
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