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Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

READ: (Zeph 2:3; 3:12-13; 1Cor 1: 26-31; Matt 5: 1-12)

REFLECT: Seek God, boast in God, be blessed by God and be a blessing to all…

Dear friends, we are in the fourth Sunday in ordinary time. The Liturgy of the word invites each one to be blessed by God and be a blessing to each and every member we meet on earth. Because, each one communicates a message or the other for life that we live. But, be for certain, if we remain a blessing to all in every circumstance, the blessing returns us in disguise richly by God or another in the world. The power of blessing is such that become blessed and have the power to bless another.  So based on the liturgy of the word, I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1. Be seekers of God:

We all know that a seeker is someone who looks for or searches on to get something. In the midst of many who seek various things, projects, purpose, we have people who seek God. Perhaps we can call them as seekers of God or spiritual seekers. The seekers of God journey the way that leads them to God, He or she orients oneself to God and to pursue God rather than any other goals of human life. The seekers of God do not have a self-discovery rather discover God in all things including oneself, because, by seeking God and moving towards Him, we obtain blessings, happiness and satisfaction in life.

Something similar is the message that we have in the first reading of prophet Zephaniah, who invites us to seek the Lord. There are four times the prophet Zephaniah uses the word seek; seek the Lord, seek righteousness, seek humility and seek refuge in the name of the Lord. Seeking the Lord is means to worship and obey the Lord. No one can seek the Lord without striving after right actions and displaying humility.  Genuine seeking involves persistence and an unshakable trust in God.

The seekers of the Lord and those who seek refuge in the name of the Lord are given in what ways and appropriate dispositions that one has to seek the Lord, that is, to seek the Lord in righteousness and humility. It is God who determines right actions and God rewards the righteous and the seekers of righteousness. Righteousness refers to our true relationship with God and with others.

Humility refers to the moral and spiritual condition of the one who have absolute dependence on God. The humble person seeks God, keeps his commands, waits on God, and is guided by him. They are dependent on him in everything.

Yes, when one seeks God righteously and humbly, the Lord shows path to fullness of blessings and life. Most of us today are not able to seek God because of the lack of righteousness and humility. Self-righteousness and the sense of pride arrogance blur our visions to move towards the goal of life that is, seeking God.

Seekers of God take responsibility for what they do and where they move; the seekers of God commit themselves to a cause to reach the destination in all situations; the seekers of God obtain knowledge from God as how and where we move towards to. Seekers of God allow God to work through them. Seekers of God follow God’s commands and his ways ardently. Today, in a world where we spend a lot of time in finding oneself, we need to give due time to find God in life. I don’t mean to say that we should avoid discovering ourselves who we are or what we can do but when God becomes the focus, he will help us understand and discover ourselves better. So let us become seekers of God, to seek God’s help us and be enabled, encouraged and find our capacity to live life as God expects or wants of us.

2. Boast in the Lord:

We all know to boast means to talk with much pride about something that one has or one can do or something they own in order to win over the admiration of another. It is an activity done purposefully to gain attention. It's intentionally done to show one’s strong self-esteem but in fact it sounds aloud the low self-esteem of oneself. That’s why someone has beautifully said that the word ‘boast’ means “to puff oneself up in speech.”

Though all of us to some extent have boastfulness and boast of various things and situation, talents and gifts in life, St. Paul teaches something quite different. In today’s first reading from St. Paul’s first letter to Corinthians he invites us saying, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Perhaps St. Paul repeats the words of Yahweh addressed through the mouth of Jeremiah the prophet, “let not the wise boast of his wisdom, not the valiant of his valor, nor the wealthy of his wealth. If someone wants to boast, let him boast of this; of understanding and knowing me. I am Yahweh, the merciful.” (Jer 9: 22-24). Here, the prophet Jeremiah warned Judah not to boast in their own wisdom and ability rather to put their confidence in the Lord to deliver them from trouble.

Similarly, Paul wants the Corinthian Community to understand who, unfortunately had forgotten when they had first received the gospel that most of them were not wise by human standards. They were neither influential nor noble by birth. Paul does not use these unappealing descriptions (shame the wise, weak, low and despised) of the Corinthians to belittle them, but to remind them that they had no basis for boasting. But there was a divine purpose. God planned to shame those whom the world considered wise and strong.

Yes, we boast of many things on earth for which is not our own but given by God. Life is given by God, gifts and talents, power and wisdom, health and wealth, families and friends, things and objects, perhaps all that we have and own are God’s. Therefore, we need to boast everything in the name of the Lord, who gives and has given us freely out of his love and bounty.

We know that Saul before he could become Paul boasted himself upon his identity as a Jew, a Pharisee or his journey towards persecuting Christians and put an end to Christianity. But after his conversion on the way to Damascus, his world view and world vision changed. He no more boasts about himself or all that he does rather he boasts everything in the name of the Lord. It is because, St. Paul understood all that he has and will be from God. Therefore, St. Paul says, “Let anyone who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Today vainglory is at the peak of humanity. We try to take due credit for which we have not worked for it and which is not our own. We feel at times that success in life, in our ministries, workplaces, families or in an individual projects that we have worked too hard. Yes, we have worked but nothing without the grace from above. It is God who makes things happen; it is God who sets everything right; it is God who does all things. Therefore, we need to have the humility to boast everything in the name of the Lord, to whom everything belongs.

Therefore, a genuine sense of boasting in the Lord would mean that we boast of his great attributes, his great deeds, his eternal promises and countless blessings. So let us not boast oneself for God can make the weak strong, God can turn the poor to rich, the wise to a fool. So instead of drawing attention to ourselves and to our works, we shall make efforts to draw attention to Jesus. This boasting in the name of God is an invitation for people to admire Jesus as much as we admire him. So let us draw our attention to God rather than ourselves.

3. Be a blessing of God:

We become a blessing to one another in the world by the blessings of God. We none of us want ourselves to be cursed or utter all kinds of evil words against us, because, we wish and expect things to be good in and around us. It is the blessing of God that makes us good and become good to one another.

Today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew presents to us how we can be blessed in the sight of God and in the sight of everyone, and so presents to us the Sermon on the Mount or the beatitudes. The evangelist Matthew places this discourse in the hill country bordering the lake of Tiberias. The mention that “Jesus went up to the mountain” reminds us of the Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law (Exo 19). So Matthew presents Jesus as a teacher, with a unique identity as Son of God, who gives Israel and all humankind the definitive laws and ways to be in union with God, to experience God’s blessings in abundance and be happy in life by following  and living the beatitudes.

The beatitudes are indeed a bold affirmation of the highest happiness of the receiver of the kingdom proclaimed by Jesus. The blessings of the beatitudes are for people who are ready for the coming of God’s Kingdom. This passage shows what kingdom-ready people should be like; hence it shows us prerequisites for the kingdom as well as kingdom promises. The poor, the mournful, the gentle, the just, the merciful, the pure, the bringer of peace and the persecutor for the cause of righteousness will obtain blessings from God and happiness in life, provided one believes in God’s kingdom, promotes God’s kingdom and propagates the kingdom of God and its values on earth.

In the midst of misery, sufferings, harshness, unjust fetters, merciless acts, impure and peaceless living, one must rely on the blessings of God, for God would turn our battles into blessings, worries into wonderful pathways. Our constant faithfulness to God is shown, when we continue to manifest God’s blessings to all and be a blessing to one another in midst of chaotic phase of life.

We read in the book of Genesis, God saying to Abraham, the father in faith, “I will bless you,” “and you will be a blessing and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:2-3). We see here the purpose of God’s blessings to Abraham. It is to be a blessing given to him and though him to one another in the world. So blessing is to share with others.

We also read in the Gospel of Matthew, “the Father who is in the heavens causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust,” (Matt 5:45). It implies that it is the prerogative and preference of God to bless people whomsoever he wishes and wills. But God blesses all to be a blessing to all.

Today, we become ungrateful of God’s blessings, even after having been blessed by God many a times; we don’t make efforts to receive the blessing of God or to bless others in words and deeds. We curse and injure people in different ways. We become the cause of disunity and division. It is because of our selfishness and pride, arrogance and anger, hatred and jealousy, above all the lack of understanding about God’s blessings over us.

God does not list the score of wrongs that we commit in life. God unstoppably blesses us. God’s blessings are given to us to be a blessing to another. Choosing to remain unblessed and not blessing others is unbecoming of us as God’s children, after having received God’s blessings for all things. So let us obtain God’s blessings and choose to be a blessing to one another in every little acts that we do and little words that we speak. May God bless us to be a blessing to one another in the world.

RESPOND:

Do I seek God and his ways or seek after worldly possessions, pleasures and positions?

Do I boast of God’s grace which counts in us or Do I boast of our own strengths and capabilities?

Do I choose to be a blessing of God to one another in the world?

Let us seek God, boast of God’s grace in us and be a blessing to one another in the world. Amen.

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968