Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
First Reading
Wisdom 18:6-9
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 33:1,12,18-22
Second Reading
Hebrews 11:1-2,8-19
Gospel Reading
Luke 12:32-48
Intro: How hard it is to be patient. The journey to our heavenly home is a journey of faith. But God is always faithful, and we come together today to celebrate His living presence among us.
Readings: the Book of Wisdom calls to mind the first Passover as it describes how the ancient Israelites placed all their trust in God, expecting the just to be saved, and their enemies to be punished.
In this extract from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear how Abraham and Sarah trusted God's promise.
Abraham was prepared to risk everything and travel into the unknown; Sarah believed that she would conceive, although she was well past child-bearing age - two examples of those who put their complete trust in God.
In the Gospel, Jesus is encouraging His disciples to be ready to move at a moment's notice - "See that you are dressed for action, and your lamps lit," telling them, and us, that we need not be afraid, because God's Kingdom is His gift to us. He challenges His own disciples to give everything away, forcing them to ask themselves if they are willing to trust God always and in everything; and that then leads Him into two other stories: one, in which a man goes off to a wedding feast; and another, in which a man goes on a longer trip, each leaving his affairs in the hands of others. They have to choose whether to carry on just as if he were present, or to slacken off, take advantage of his absence and indulge themselves? In other words, will the master come back to a well-ordered business, or to chaos and ruin?
When He was on earth, Jesus had promised that He would come again. The early Christians interpreted that as within a matter or months or, at most, a year or two. Paul, however, wrote to his converts in Thessalonika, advising them not to give up their day jobs just yet. How well Jesus knows our aversion to change, our fearfulness of risk, especially as we get older, or the more we feel we have to lose. Yet we're faced with change all the time: in our world, our families, our health, even the church.
How do we react? Do we dig in our heels to resist, or deny that they're happening? Habit, routine and nostalgia are comforting ("it wasn't like this in the good old days before decimal coinage. the new English liturgy, and, of course, brexit!") But they can also become deadening influences, preventing us from opening ourselves to the capacity to change. Can we put our total trust in the One Who has promised to lead us into a new land, a new relationship, a new set of circumstances?
Because we are a pilgrim people, a people on the move, ever seeking to follow where God is leading us, and we can't simply be complacent about our possessions or our comfortable lives. Ultimately they are meaning less, because this isn't the place to which we are finally called.
As God's holy people, we all have a responsibility to hand on the faith: the bishop is the chief catechist of the diocese, the priest his helper, and the Catholic teacher all play prominent positions. All vocations. Yet the greatest vocation of all is that of parenthood. I can never say, "I'll let my children choose for themselves when they grow up." We owe it to them to baptise them, practise the faith with them, and keep their lamps brightly lit.
If we put all our trust in God, keep faith with Him, one day we'll hear that joyous call: "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord."
