Read Reflect Respond

Feast Days |  Sundays |  Videos | Latest

Year - A

 Homily for Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Mal 1: 14 -2: 2, 8-10; 1 Thes 2: 7-9, 13; Matt 23:1-12)

REFLECT: Focus on the Internal beauty of heart than the External duty and beauty of life...

Dear friends, today we are in the 31st Sunday in ordinary time. The liturgy of the word invites each one of us to focus on the internal beauty of the heart than the external duty that just dissuades people from moving towards God. St. Francis De Sales says, “Blessed is the heart that loves God with no other pleasure than that of pleasing God.” Yes, heart is the storage of love and the internal beauty of the heart is never seen in appearance but only shown in sincere behavior traits like love, kindness, compassion, oneness etc. The external duty or beauty, which can be seen, is the way we present ourselves wearing a mask, in order to attract, show off, gain name and fame etc. Today what affects humanity is the internal beauty of the heart although at times there is a tendency for us to fail in this regard. But the internal beauty of the heart is core of one’s personality and that makes life beautiful. So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection. 

1. Faithfulness to God:

Faithfulness to God is our gift that we give to God for the love he has manifested. In the first reading, prophet Malachi makes known the heart of the Lord to priests who have gone astray from him and who have made the people astray from God. Their misleading instructions have turned people away from God’s ways, made them faithless to one another, made unholy the covenant of the ancestors that God has given them. Therefore, prophet Malachi calls us to be faithful to God’s laws and covenant. The Lord reminds through prophet Malachi that God is a great king and to him belongs power, honor and glory. It is a call to be faithful to the covenant that God has given and it is our faithfulness to acknowledge that God is our king and leader. It is to God who we are called to listen and it is to God’s covenant that we are called to be faithful; it is to God’s laws and instruction that we are called to observe and follow. 

Prophet Malachi’s message is clearly addressed to the priests. Of course, more is expected from those who have the responsibility of leading and teaching the people. Prophet Malachi comes down very hard on priests and leaders, who were entrusted with the sacred duty of teaching, forming and leading the people of God. When we who are leaders of different entity do not seek God’s glory or love God’s word, we become a stumbling block for growth to both ourselves and others. It is like an age-old quote that’s said, “As the master is, so the disciple is.” Yes, ultimately, it all depends on how the master trains or forms the disciples. If the master trains the disciples with right disciplines and good values, the disciples would be with right discipline and good values otherwise he or she would be contradicting the life they live. So it is very essential that those who teach remember that their task is noble and sacred, they are accountable not only for themselves, but also for those whom they teach or train. It could be our parents, teachers, leaders of the church or society. Imparting right knowledge and right values would bring glory to God. 

Very meaningfully Pope Francis, while speaking about our faithfulness to God points out saying, “Our fidelity is nothing more than a response to God’s fidelity. God who is faithful to His word, who is faithful to His promise, who walks with His people carrying out the promise close to His people.” Yes, God is always faithful to us. But we are not faithful to him. We become faithful to people around, places around, things around but we fail to be faithful to God. Our credibility and faithfulness to God needs to be manifested in authentic profession of faith; in the use of gifts and talents for God’s service to humanity; in hearing and answering God’s call promptly; by becoming faithful leaders in the family or church or society imparting right knowledge and good values of the kingdom. Let us remember, rejecting God’s word is as equal as rejecting God’s authority and power over us or the opportunity that knocks at our door steps. Making others to reject God and his word is as equal as engaging in idolatry or false worship of gods or dissuading from the faith one professes in God. So our faith in God demands that we become faithful to God and his words. Once we become faithful to God, we would never abandon God and God too would never abandon us, for faith in God always has a grip and strong hold. 

2.              Openness to God’s love:

Our openness and receptivity to God’s word and his love is manifested, whenever we do what is pleasing to God. What pleases God is that we hear his word, follow his commands, live the word of God and manifest them in our actions. That’s what the Second reading from Thessalonians calls us to show our love for God by being open and receptive to God’s words and ways. St. Paul in his second letter to Thessalonians tells us how gentle and motherly was he to the Thessalonians. Because of the great love for God, Paul and his company did not merely preach the gospel in Thessalonica but also they have given themselves fully, undergoing pains and hardships for the love of God and his people. They were very careful not to make the word of God as something burdensome. So St. Paul appreciates and accepts the Thessalonians for being open and be receptive to God’s word and not considering what they preached as mere words of men. Overall, we see here St. Paul as a model of true evangelization, who passionately committed to the proclamation of the gospel, manifesting tenderness and gentleness in the ministry he was entrusted.

Yes, such was the love St. Paul had for God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Having been absorbed by the love of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he could have such an impact on people to affect the lives of people by the grace and blessings of God. I am sure such an ardent love for God, for God’s word and for God’s people will make us open ourselves to God’s word and His will in our lives. Such love for God would overwhelm the human heart. Such love for God would make the impossible a possibility. So we need to do everything for the love of God, leaving behind every petty issues of life that makes burdensome and deviating, but looking ahead with confidence in God for pretty ways of life by focusing God and his ways. However, we all would acknowledge that it is not our love for God, but God’s love for us has been the connecting link at all times, nurturing and nourishing the bond of relationship with God, because God loved us since the beginning and he still continues to love us without any exception and expectation from us. 

That’s why Pope Francis very beautifully says, “God is seeking us out at every hour of the day and that his big-hearted love for us is not based on our merits. This is how God is: He does not wait for our efforts to come to us. He does not give up if we are late in responding to him. On the contrary, he himself has taken the initiative and through Jesus came to us to show us his love. For his heart, it is never too late; he is always looking for us and waiting for us.” Yes, although, our human nature is that we go astray from God or we don’t respond to God’s invitation through his words and commands or take it for granted or move ahead with never-mind attitude, yet God loves us unconditionally, because, God wants us to be with him; God waits for our returning back to him; God wants us to renew our lives in and through his grace. So to a loving God who loves us always, our tribute shall be to love him all the more and respond to him willingly and promptly in our actions.

3.              Reflection of God’s Image:

One of the ways we can reflect God in life is to manifest the beauty of the heart through good behaviors and good vibes. The heart that loves, cares, understands genuinely will be able to reflect the love of God and work for the glory of God. Somehow, the Pharisees and Scribes failed to manifest the heart of God or reflect the face of God as they fully immersed in themselves and not in God. The self-immersion of Pharisees and Scribes only promoted their self but did not promote the welfare and well-being of others in the society. One such episode we have in today’s Gospel reading. The gospel reading calls us to observe what others tell but do not do what could be burdensome or hurdle to come closer to God. It is a call to reflect the heart, mind and face of God to one another. Therefore we need to focus on the internal beauty of the heart that really loves, cares and understands. 

Perhaps whatever the scribes and Pharisees told were the practices and observances of what Moses handed on to them but their approach towards laws and Jewish customs were not right. They under the disguise of safe-guarding the Ten Commandments that God gave through Moses, they constituted and expanded 613 laws. But the laws that they made were burdensome, rigid, a hurdle for people to follow and live up to the standards of God. It was only an eye-wash and has not followed the laws for the good of the people. They were full of themselves with pride, arrogance, selfishness and prejudices. They thought that they were makers and masters of the law and no one could supersede them. Their approach was narrow minded. They were interested a lot in external manifestations than the internal beauty of the heart. That’s why Jesus tells, “practice and observe whatever they tell you as they sit on the chair of Moses but do not do what they do. So it is a warning from Jesus to be careful of the observances we do and practice and have right intentions and approaches of laws that spring from the pure and a sincere heart.

Perhaps the statement of Jesus that the Pharisees and scribes occupy Moses’ seat refer that they are the legal experts and promoters of the Law. Jesus confirms respect for their role in representing the Law, but indicated clearly that the people are to avoid following the practice of the leaders who failed to match their word and deed. They were praised for their representation of Moses. But their leadership role was condemned by Jesus as they were not a model for people to follow or practice. They imposed commands upon individuals which they themselves would not practice; they practiced their religious traditions for recognition from people; they had respect for persons, not because they really loved them but because they loved important places in the assembly and wanted to be honored in society. So Jesus condemns their self-seeking ambition for status, power and recognition, and their practice was contradictory to the community of disciples Jesus was teaching or forming them to be God’s children. So the right disposition of the heart would set all things right, because heart has the art of attracting millions of people to God with genuine love. 

Today hypocrisy has become part of many and double-standard life too. When there is no correspondence between what we say and do, one’s real state of life, the intention and the purpose is exposed openly to the public to evaluate how good one is. Very aptly Pope Francis tells, “Hypocrisy is the gravest danger, because it can ruin even the most sacred realities”. Yes, hypocrisy and pretence could bring our own destruction; it can even endanger one’s own sacredness and others too. One’s the sacredness of life is lost, we would find ourselves with scars and stains that brings pain and adds dirt to life. Therefore, we need to purify hearts and set our hearts on right things, for heart is the source, storage and steering factor of actions, once the heart is set and everything else would be set right. So let us focus on the internal beauty of the heart, which can give lasting satisfaction and happiness. The external beauty of life that is so pretentious and false gives us the picture of masks that we wear and that are not the real self. What adds beauty to life is the internal beauty of the heart that is so pure, true and loving. So let us manifest the internal beauty of the heart and reflect the heart of God to one another in the world. 

RESPOND:

Do we manifest our faithfulness to God and his words as leaders of the family, church, society and the world?

Do we manifest openness and receptivity to the love that God offers us every day?

Do we reflect the image of God by manifesting the internal beauty of heart rather than external affairs of life?

Let us manifest our faithfulness to God, be open and receptive to God’s love he offers and become the reflection of God’s image in our lives by manifesting the internal beauty of the heart. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968