To watch Fr. Joe’s homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time: CLICK HERE!
Jesus, as we know, used stories to get his message across to people. Jesus wanted the people of his day, and the people of our day to live a life that reflects a life of a believer, a disciple of Jesus – the Son of God…
As one person has written, “Jesus did not tell parables (stories) as comforting bedtime stories. The stories of Jesus are meant to wake us up and give us a new perspective.” And this person goes on to reminds us, “the first sign that we are hearing Jesus’ message is that it makes us uncomfortable.”
And just maybe the ending of today’s Gospel might make us uncomfortable or defensive…
“No servant can serve two masters… we will either hate one and love the other; or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot give you self to God and mammon” (maman meaning wealth regarded as an evil Influence or false object of worship or devotion.) Put another way, do we live for Christ or for the world?
Sure, we live for Christ! More and more and more… or do we live for Christ when it suits my time and schedule, my wants and needs???
When we live for Christ and not the world, we recognize that GOD is GOD and we are not!
Father, we live for Christ when we go to church and communion every week, we say our prayers, obey the commandments, live the beatitudes, etc…
Very good Grasshopper, but what other choices of life challenge us to live for Christ???
- When we attend a church meeting are we listening to what God has to share with us today or are we thinking about what else we could be doing or zoning right out or sneakily giving our smart phone our undivided attention?
- When we are around our family and friends, even strangers, is our behavior that of a person of values and honor and faith, or something we don’t want our parents to know about?
- Is our life about helping others, especially those in real need, or is our life all about me, all about what I want, all about making my life comfortable?
On that note – as I was writing this last sentence, I received a text from a 28 year old who recognized me when I was on vacation recently. A person I last saw when he was 13 years old. I shared I would share this with him via text, how thoughtful it was for him to say hello, even though he may have been asking the wrong person. Gets you thinking how many people can we not only bring joy to for even a moment, by a hello, a kind word, an act of kindness, each and every day. Seems this is the thing of people of faith, people who live for Christ.
There is no doubt that we live in the WORLD… But one of those questions that just maybe needs to be on our minds often is as a person of faith, how can we/I… How will we/I… live for Christ today, tomorrow and every day.